Susan Saint James, Emmy-winning star of 'McMillan & Wife' and 'Kate & Allie,' dies at 80

Susan Saint James, the husky-voiced, Emmy-winning actress who starred with Rock Hudson in McMillan & Wife and with Jane Curtin in Kate & Allie, has died. She was 80.

A representative told People that Saint James died Monday, Oct. 26, after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, according to the Associated Press, Deadline and The Washington Post. She is survived by her husband, Dick Ebersol, the former chairman of NBC Sports and a former executive producer of Saturday Night Live.

A familiar face on TV for decades

Saint James was a TV regular across several generations, The Washington Post wrote. Her best-known roles:

The Post reported that she left McMillan & Wife over a contract dispute and moved into movies, including comedies with Peter Fonda and Jessica Lange, among them Outlaw Blues.

Kate & Allie starred Saint James and Curtin as two divorced friends raising their kids together in one New York home. The Los Angeles Times called it a “heartfelt, blended family comedy.” The AP noted that her son Miller got his first TV role on the show.

Marriage to Dick Ebersol

According to the AP, Saint James met Ebersol in 1981 while she was guest-hosting Saturday Night Live, where he was executive producer at the time. They married barely six weeks later and had three sons: Charlie, Willie and Teddy.

The AP also reported that she filed for divorce in 2002 but the couple reconciled later that year. “We had a second chance,” she told People at the time.

The 2004 plane crash

On Nov. 28, 2004, a private plane carrying Ebersol and sons Charlie and Teddy crashed on takeoff in snowy weather at Montrose Regional Airport in Colorado. Saint James had gotten off at that stop to go to the family’s second home. Ebersol and Charlie survived with serious injuries. Teddy, 14, was killed, along with the pilot and a flight attendant.

Deadline reported that after Teddy’s death, Saint James often spent her time working with parents who had lost children. The family’s statement said that weeks after the crash, she gave Teddy’s eulogy “as a note to each of her other children and her husband, giving them words to heal.”

Advocacy

The Los Angeles Times highlighted her long support for the Special Olympics. Her family described her as “generous with her time and energy, which she valued more than money, and instinctively drawn to whoever needed lifting up,” in a statement quoted by Deadline.

“She never met a stranger,” the family said in its statement to People, as quoted by the AP.

Survivors

Reports differ slightly on how they count her children. The AP lists her husband; daughter Sunshine and son Harmony from her second marriage, to makeup artist Tom Lucas; sons Charlie and Willie with Ebersol; and Miller. Deadline lists Ebersol, four children, seven grandchildren and her sister, Mary Mercedes Dewey. Her first marriage, to Richard Neubert, ended in divorce.

FAQ