Susan Saint James, who won an Emmy and became a well-loved face on American television through ‘The Name of the Game’, ‘McMillan & Wife’ and ‘Kate & Allie’, has passed away at the age of 80. Her representative said that she died on Monday, October 26, due to pancreatic cancer.
Family pays tribute to Susan Saint James
Susan Saint James’s representative told PEOPLE in a statement that her family described her as someone who was “generous with her time and energy” and “taught her children to pause, be kind and look out for other people.”The statement went on, “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.”The family also spoke about how she handled the loss of her youngest son. “Her defining act: weeks after losing her youngest son, Teddy, in the November 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.”The tribute ended with the words, “She brought that same fire and positivity to everything that followed and never lost it. She is survived by her husband, Dick Ebersol; her four children—Sunshine Lucas, Harmony Lucas, Charlie Ebersol and Willie Ebersol; her seven grandchildren; her sister, Mary Mercedes Dewey, as well as her beloved service dog, Lola.”
Early life and first big break
Born Susan Jane Miller in Los Angeles on August 14, 1946, she moved to Rockford, Illinois, as a young girl, as her father, a film camera company executive, and her mother, a teacher, relocated the family. She started out as a model there.Talking to Bob Costas in 1980, when she was at the peak of her fame, she recalled her childhood. “I grew up on a river in Rockford, Ill.,” she said. “We had a TV, but my dad was waiting for them to perfect colour, which is way into the ’60s. We had one small black-and-white TV because he didn’t think colour was here to stay, and movies were what you did. That was what you did.”Screen work did become her calling. Her very first role became one of her best-known. In the 1966 TV movie ‘Fame Is the Name of the Game’, she played Peggy Chan, the editorial assistant to Tony Franciosa’s investigative journalist Jeff Dillon. She played the character again, with the name changed to Peggy Maxwell, in the series that followed, with the film acting as its pilot.
Emmy win and film work
In 1969, Susan Saint James won the Primetime Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a series, beating Barbara Anderson of ‘Ironside’ and Agnes Moorehead of ‘Bewitched’.She also appeared in several films, including ‘Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows’ from 1968, the sequel to Ida Lupino’s comic nun film ‘The Trouble With Angels’, and ‘Love at First Bite’, a 1979 New York City-set take on Dracula. Still, television remained her true home.
Years of ‘McMillan & Wife’
After ‘The Name of the Game’, Susan Saint James had single-episode roles in ‘McCloud’ and ‘Alias Smith and Jones’. She then landed Sally McMillan in ‘McMillan & Wife’, where she was paired with Rock Hudson. The police procedural showed them as a high-powered San Francisco couple who solved crimes during the day and went to galas at night.The role brought her three more Emmy nominations. In 2024, she recalled the funny answer Hudson gave when she asked why he picked her over contenders such as Jill Clayburgh and Diane Keaton. “Years later, I asked Rock why he picked me. He said, ‘I was getting so fat from having lunch with actresses that I just decided to go with you!’”
‘Kate & Allie’ and life after the spotlight
Her last big role came in 1984, when she played Katherine “Kate” McArdle in ‘Kate & Allie’. The show was loved by critics and earned her two more Emmy nominations during its run until 1989. She starred with Jane Curtin, who won two back-to-back Emmys for the sitcom about single mothers.Susan Saint James largely stepped away from the spotlight once the show ended, though she returned to the small screen now and then, including a 2006 appearance on ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ and a 2011 turn on ‘Suits’. Her legacy continues through her niece, ‘Shrinking’ star Christa Miller.
Personal life and loss
Susan Saint James married three times. She had a daughter, Sunshine Lucas, and a son, Harmony Lucas, with makeup artist Thomas Lucas, and three more sons with ‘Saturday Night Live’ producer Dick Ebersol. The couple married in 1981. In 2004, Dick and their sons Charles and Teddy were on a private plane that crashed in Colorado. Dick and Charles survived, but Teddy died at 14.
Work beyond acting
Susan Saint James was a committed volunteer with the Special Olympics. In 1998, she also began a baby gift basket business with her friend Barrie Johnson and her sister, Mercedes Dewey. In 2008, her contribution to entertainment was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
