ShareThisBy PATRICIA SHERIDAN
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Her Oscar-winning performance in "On the Waterfront" (her first film) with Marlon Brando in 1954 established Eva Marie Saint as a talent to watch.
She went on to perform with a cadre of Hollywood's most dazzling leading men, such as Warren Beatty, Paul Newman, Cary Grant, Richard Burton and Henry Fonda, and recently appeared in "Winn Dixie," "Superman Returns" and "Don't Come Knocking," now out on DVD.
In real life Saint has been married to director Jeffrey Hayden for 55 years. They have two grown children and three grandchildren.
Q: You have worked with an impressive collection of leading men. How did your husband handle it?
A: He's a director. That's what he does.
Q: Yes, but he's human. Also, oftentimes affairs start between leading men and leading ladies.
A: Well, it's true. You are absolutely right. If you love acting and you enjoy that character and the leading man and the director and you are out on location, it's Never, Neverland in a sense. Not reality. No, I know, but he's a fine director. Jeff always felt happy if (on screen) we connected, that I was working in the right way.
Q: Would you call yourself a practical person?
A: I think so. I grew up in the Depression era _ at the end of it. My family and I never felt the need of anything, but we didn't have all the money in the world. My father was with the B.F. Goodrich Tire Co., and he worked, traveled a lot and worked really six days out of seven. I never envied my friends that had more money or lived in bigger houses. I just felt satisfied and happy growing up.
Q: I was thinking of the story of how your husband finally got a date with you. He asked you for lunch after you turned him down for coffee. That was practical.
A: (Laughing) You're right. (laughing) That's so funny. Twice he asked me for coffee, and I was in New York and I was so practical in the sense that I didn't waste my time. Yeah, I was tired of eating lunch alone at the counter of the drugstore. It seemed like a good idea to have lunch.
Q: Did you know Montgomery Clift was gay when you played opposite him in "Raintree County"?
A: I probably didn't even know the word then (laughing). No, my gosh! He was very shy, but he and Elizabeth (Taylor) were very close and very good friends.
Q: Did winning an Oscar right off put pressure on you or was it more, 'OK, I've done that. Now I can relax'?
A: Never. How can you ever relax as an actor? I think the academy and all the award shows are a little out of hand, as far as the celebrity business and all the publicity. It's more than it deserves. Now, when I got the Oscar, they didn't make all that fuss. It certainly helps, but it's not the end all. The fun, the excitement, the joy comes in the doing.
Q: Any comments on today's ultra-thin starlets and the pressure to ...
A: I think the pressures are so strong on young people today. I just didn't have that when I was a young actress. I don't know who's anorexic in Hollywood, but all I know is I look at those bodies and they are too thin at that age.
Q: Hollywood has always been superficial, but in this age of extreme makeovers, so few people have aged naturally.
A: Oh yeah (laughing). You are talking about facelifts and boobie lifts and tummy tucks. No, I never had anything done, and I'm sort of proud of that. I think all that you've been through in life, those wrinkles, I feel, add character. Through the years I had friends who did. One in particular is quite well known, and I saw her and I didn't recognize her. I was 10 feet from her!
Q: You're not going to tell me who it is.
A: No, no. (laughing) no, no, no. No I'm not. Actually there was another one. Two friends, and it was absolutely horrendous. I felt that they'd been in a terrible accident in a sense.
(Patricia Sheridan can be reached at psheridan(at)post-gazette.com)
