Susan Saint James, Star of "Kate & Allie" and "McMillan & Wife," Dies at 80
The Emmy-winning actress passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer, her family confirmed.
Susan Saint James, the Emmy-award winning actress known for her roles in "Kate & Allie" and "McMillan & Wife," has died at the age of 80.
A representative confirmed to People that Saint James passed away following a diagnosis with pancreatic cancer.
Her family remembered her as a person who was "generous with her time and energy, which she valued more than money, and instinctively drawn to whoever needed lifting up. She taught her children to pause, be kind and look out for other people."
"She never met a stranger. Every person she met became the most important person in the room at that moment, from a fellow board member to the clerk at the shoe store, who usually walked away knowing her entire life story," the statement continued.
The family also shared a defining act of Saint James': "weeks after losing her youngest son, Teddy, in the November 28, 2004 plane crash, she delivered his eulogy as a note to each of her other children and her husband, giving them words to heal.
'Even in the deepest grief of her life, she put everyone else first. Days after the crash she sat with Tim Russert to thank the people who had reached out and to tell them the family was okay. She brought that same fire and positivity to everything that followed, and never lost it.'
Saint James is survived by her husband, Dick Ebersol; her four children—Sunshine Lucas, Harmony Lucas, Charlie Ebersol, and Willie Ebersol; seven grandchildren; her sister, Mary Mercedes Dewey; and her service dog, Lola.
Born in Los Angeles in 1946, Saint James began her career as a model in her teenage years. She spent a year modeling in France before returning to Los Angeles, where she took acting classes. At 19, she signed with Universal Pictures after an agent friend helped her secure a contract.
Her early acting work included the 1966 TV film "Fame Is The Name Of The Game," where she played Peggy Chan. She gained wider recognition for her role as Sally McMillan, the on-screen wife of Rock Hudson, in the police procedural series "McMillan & Wife," which aired from 1971 to 1976.
