Oscar-winning actress Eva Marie Saint, who starred in the classic films On the Waterfront and North by Northwest, died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 102.
The appealing actress, one of the first breakout talents from early TV, won her best supporting actress Oscar for “On the Waterfront” in 1955, making her the oldest living Oscar winner.  She played Edie Doyle, the sister of the wrongly killed brother and Brando’s romantic interest, rendering a tender and sensitive performance.

As Saint raised her family from the late 1950s on, she returned to acting intermittently, and many of her later appearances were onstage and on television, most notably in the ABC series “Moonlighting” and later as Clark Kent’s adoptive mother in the 2006 movie “Superman Returns.”

One of her most memorable roles was as the cool but seductive blonde spy in Hitchcock’s 1959 spy thriller “North by Northwest.” “Not only does she provide the requisite icy sex appeal as Eve Kendall, a shadowy secret agent, but she also proves to be more than a standard damsel in distress,” Variety wrote.

Saint made her TV debut on “Camp Hoop La,” then became a regular on “One Man’s Family.” She broadened her dramatic range in such anthology series as “Philco Playhouse,” “Robert Montgomery Presents” and “Studio One.” Highlights during the period included Paddy Chayevsky’s “Middle of the Night” (1954) and a musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” (1955) co-starring Paul Newman and Frank Sinatra (both shows brought her Emmy nominations); Sidney Howard’s “Yellow Jack”; and the drama “Claudia.”

Rather than a studio contract, however, she returned to the theater in stock productions of “The Rainmaker” and “Desire Under the Elms.”

In 1956 she took on the glamorous female lead in “That Certain Feeling” opposite Bob Hope, followed by the 1957 film version of “A Hatful of Rain” and “Raintree County.”

After “North by Northwest,” she appeared in “Exodus” and “All Fall Down.” The latter, directed by John Frankenheimer and co-starring Warren Beatty, offered her one of her best dramatic performances.

She was the scorned wife in 1965’s Elizabeth Taylor-Richard Burton adultery tale “The Sandpiper,” directed by Minnelli, and then appeared in Norman Jewison’s comedy “The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming,” in 1966. Her performance in “Loving,” co-starring with George Segal, was highly regarded and rated with her best work. Other roles include “36 Hours” and “Grand Prix.” Except for another Hope comedy, “Cancel My Reservation,” she spent most of the next two decades on TV and onstage.

On Broadway she acted in “The Lincoln Mask” in 1972 and opposite Henry Fonda, in “The First Monday in October” in 1979.

In 1983 she appeared in a Chicago production of “Duet for One.” Her television credits include “School for Bachelors,” “A Carol for Another Christmas,” “‘The First Woman President,” “Mrs. Epenshade,” “Taxi” and miniseries “How the West Was Won.” The latter two roles also brought Emmy nominations.

Saint received good critical notices for “A Christmas to Remember” with Jason Robards, “When Hell Was in Session,” “The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb,” “The Best Little Girl in the World,” “Malibu,” “My Antonia” and “Jane Doe,” among other roles.

In 1986 she returned to the big screen with a role in the Tom Hanks-Jackie Gleason vehicle Nothing in Common.

Saint appeared in many TV movies in the 1990s, in “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “Kiss of a Killer,” “After Jimmy” and “Open House,” along with a cameo as Roz’s mother in “Frasier.”

After four previous Emmy nominations, Saint finally took the statuette with a supporting actress Emmy win in 1990 for her role in the NBC miniseries “People Like Us.”

Saint returned to film again in the 2000s, appearing in “I Dreamed of Africa” (2000), “Because of Winn-Dixie” and “Don’t Come Knocking” (2005) and 2006’s “Superman Returns,” in which she played Martha Kent.

In 2014 she made her final big screen appearance, in Akiva Goldsman’s “Winter’s Tale.”

Saint was born in Newark, N.J.; the family later moved to Delmar, N.Y. Planning to be a teacher, she attended Ohio’s Bowling Green State Univ., where she became interested in acting. After receiving B.A., she turned to acting, first in radio. She received her first paycheck of $10 as off-camera applauder on “The Borden Show.” To make ends meet, she did modeling and played in radio serials, “Rosemary” and “Young Doctor Malone.”

Actors Studio

In 1947 she was cast in Mister Roberts, but was reduced to understudy when director Joshua Logan thought she had not enough experience; Jocelyn Brando played the role. A year later she began studying at the Actors Studio.

Saint has 2 separate stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for film and one for TV. Saint paid homage to “North by Northwest” by hosting TCM docu “The Making of North by Northwest” in 2000.

Docus: Broadway: The Golden Age

She appeared in the 2003 documentary “Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There” and the 2011 docu “Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age.”

Saint appeared at the 2009 Oscars show to present the supporting actress award, some 55 years after her “Waterfront” win.

Her husband, TV director Jeffrey Hayden, died in 2016. Survivors include her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.