Silver screen icon Eva Marie Saint celebrated her 100th birthday surrounded by four generations of her family.
The On the Waterfront legend is one of the last surviving stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, having made her acting debut in 1944.
Eva won an Academy Award for the Marlon Brando film in 1955 before going on to win an Emmy in 1990 for People Like Us, as well as securing numerous more nominations.
Another notable role saw her starring alongside Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959).
Just before her milestone day on July 4, Eva revealed her family would join her from across America in Los Angeles for the huge event.
‘I certainly don’t feel 100 years old,’ the actress told People. ‘I continue to take walks out in the fresh air, like watching baseball — especially the Los Angeles Dodgers, and enjoy time with my family and friends.’
She expressed that she has a ‘good life’, having retired from acting in 2021 at the age of 97.
Her family includes son Darrell Hayden, 69, and daughter Laurette Hayden, 65, both of whom she had by her late husband Jeffrey Hayden.
Hayden worked as a producer and director and the pair tied the knot on October 28, 1951, remaining together until his death on Christmas Eve, 2016, aged 90.
She also reportedly has four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, all joining her for her celebrations.
Eva was actually heavily pregnant with eldest Darrell when she received her Oscar for On The Waterfront, joking she ‘may have the baby right here’ when she walked on stage.
In 2018, she returned to the Oscars to present the award for Costume Design, receiving a huge standing ovation from the crowd.
Born in Newark, New Jersey on Independence Day 1924, Eva was raised in a Quaker household and from an early age pursued acting.
After training in Ohio, she moved to the famed Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio — where the likes of Angelina Jolie, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, and Steve Buscemi have followed in her footsteps.
Her career was not an immediate success though as her Broadway dreams hit a bumpy patch in 1948 when she was demoted to understudy for the only female role in Mister Roberts.
Five years later she made her lead Broadway debut in The Trip To Bountiful and although the show flopped, it launched her film career.
Producers of On The Waterfront took a shine to Eva in the show and cast her as Edie, who falls for Brando’s Terry Malloy.
Her 1955 Oscar win catapulted the then-31-year-old to fame, with her landing a string of roles in That Certain Feeling opposite Bob Hope, as well as Elizabeth Taylor’s Raintree County.
Eva nearly turned down one of her most iconic roles as spy Eve Kendall for Hitchcock’s North by Northwest as she had just welcomed their daughter.
‘I don’t know, honey, I don’t come in until about page 70,’ she reportedly told her husband when offered the role after other actresses had already turned it down.
Over the years she continued to work across TV and film, working with Paul Newman in the biblical epic Exodus in the 60s before taking a short break.
In the 80s, Eva returned as Tom Hanks’ mum in comedy Nothing In Common then winning her first Emmy Award for the 1990 miniseries People Like Us.
Even in her early 80s, the star didn’t slow down and appeared as Clark Kent’s mother in 2006’s Superman Returns.
Eagle-eared animation fans can also hear Eva’s voice as Katara in the beloved Nickelodeon series Avatar: Legend of Korra, which finished airing in 2012.
Two years later she took on a role in Winter’s Tale, which also starred Colin Farrell and marked her final big screen part.
Since then she has lent her voice to podcasts such as the play series The Pack Podcast, alongside Marisa Tomei.
Her pivotal position as an icon of the Golden Age of Hollywood has been celebrated with two stars on Hollywood Boulevard, one for film and one for TV.
Keeping busy away from the spotlight, Eva once recalled to NPR: ‘Now Jeff and I did an interview, and this very prim and proper lady said, “Miss Saint, how do you stay married?”
‘This was, I think we were married 40 years then. So I become serious and I say, well, I think you have interests in things that you do together.
‘You certainly have to decide whether you’re going to have family or not. So I go on and on. She turns to Jeff. She said, “well, Mr. Hayden, what do you think the secret is?” And he said, “Sex”.’
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