Actress Susan Saint James, who co-starred with Rock Hudson in the 1970s show “McMillan & Wife” and with Jane Curtin in the 1980s sitcom “Kate & Allie,” died on Monday. She was 80.
A representative for the Emmy Award-winning actress confirmed to People that Saint James died after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Her family told the magazine that Saint James was “generous with her time and energy, which she valued more than money, and instinctively drawn to whoever needed lifting up.”
“She taught her children to pause, be kind and look out for other people,” the statement continued. “She never met a stranger. Every person she met became the most important person in the room at that moment, from a fellow board member to the clerk at the shoe store, who usually walked away knowing her entire life story.”
Born Susan Jane Miller on Aug. 14, 1946, in Los Angeles, the actress was raised in Rockford, Illinois, Deadline reported.
Saint James was raised in Rockford, Illinois, where she began modeling as a teen.
She launched her acting career in a 1966 television movie, “Fame Is the Name of the Game,” then had guest roles in “Ironside,” Deadline reported. When the television movie was adapted into “The Name of the Game” two years later, Saint James landed a regular role in the TV series.
Saint James earned three Emmy Award nominations in the series and won in 1969 for best supporting actress in a drama series, Variety reported.
Saint James would earn three more Emmy nominations for her role as the wife of a San Francisco police commissioner (Hudson) in “McMillan & Wife,” according to the entertainment news website. She starred in that role from 1971 to 1976, but left in a contract dispute before the series’ final season in 1977, according to Deadline. Her character was killed off in a plane crash.
“We did a pilot one year and then worked together almost five and a half years, except that they went on a year without me,” Saint James told Yahoo in 2015. “My character died. It was very sad, but (Hudson’s) character didn’t waste any time having any other girlfriends either!
“I saw him years later, and I said, ‘How could you! How could you have gotten together with Sally Field?’ But at the time I thought, ‘I’m turning 30, I better get out to the movie world soon.’ So it was OK.”
In 1984, Saint James co-starred with Curtin in “Kate & Allie.” The plot centered around two divorced mothers who decide to raise their children together in a Manhattan apartment, Variety reported.
The sitcom ran through 1989 and earned Saint James two more Emmy nominations.
Saint James was a longtime advocate for the Special Olympics, according to Variety. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2008.
Saint James is survived by her husband, former NBC executive Dick Ebersol, four children and seven grandchildren, Deadline reported.
From 1967 to 1968, Saint James was married to scriptwriter Richard Neubert, according to People. In 1971, she married makeup artist Tom Lucas.