Susan Saint James, the Emmy-winning actress known for her roles in multiple hit 1970s and ’80s television shows, has died. She was 80.
The “Name of the Game,” “McMillan & Wife” and “Kate & Allie” star died Monday following a battle with pancreatic cancer, her family and a representative announced on Tuesday.
Saint James’ team remembered her as “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.”
“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,” they continued. “Her defining act: weeks after losing her youngest son, Teddy, in the Nov. 28, 2004, plane crash, she delivered his eulogy as a note to each of her other children and her husband, giving them words to heal. Even in the deepest grief of her life, she put everyone else first. Days after the crash she sat with Tim Russert to thank the people who had reached out and to tell them the family was okay.”
“She brought that same fire and positivity to everything that followed, and never lost it,” their statement concluded.
In addition to her 1969 Emmy win for supporting actress in a comedy, Saint James earned a further four nominations and a Golden Globe nod throughout her career. She also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2008 and was an active member on the boards for both the Special Olympics and the Telluride Foundation.
She is survived by her husband Dick Ebersol, four children, seven grandchildren, a sister and her beloved service dog, Lola.
