Eva Marie Saint

Eva Marie Saint is perfect as the sleek, ice cool blonde Eve Kendall in Hitchcock's NORTH BY NORTHWEST in 1959 - I like her poised glamour and those individual line readings, a Hitchcock blonde in fact to equal Grace Kelly. She was already a serious actress before and after her Hitch experience. One of those new girls of the 1950s- like Lee Remick, Shirley McLaine, Joanne Woodward, Carroll Baker and the grown-up Natalie Wood - she was already 30 by the time of her first film ON THE WATERFRONT  (right, on the cover of the first issue of "Films and Filming" in 1954). Like Lee Remick in A FACE IN THE CROWD in 1957, its quite an introduction to cinema. She got on with Hitchcock very well, as they created the perfect look for the poised Kendall - even when dangling off Mount Rushmore wearing white gloves! She hosts the "making of..." documentary on the NORTHWEST dvd/blu-ray and is very interesting on its making and working with Hitch - see other posts at Saint label. 

She was in Preminger's EXODUS next, and was again perfect as Echo O'Brien "the old maid from Toledo" in Frankenheimer's ALL FALL DOWN in 1962, from a book I liked by James Leo Herlihy (author of MIDNIGHT COWBOY). Minnelli's THE SANDPIPER rather wasted her in 1965 as the Burtons took centre stage, but she is marvellous too in LOVING in 1970 with George Segal. She even did a Bob Hope comedy - THAT CERTAIN FEELING in 1956. Its been an extensive career co-starring with the likes of Brando, Newman, Clift, Beatty as well as Cary Grant, with 78 credits listed at IMDB and she is still going now at over 90! A real veteran.