Actress Susan Saint James Dies at 80 in Los Angeles

Susan Saint James, the Los Angeles born actress known for her roles in McMillan & Wife and Kate & Allie, has died. She was 80. People magazine reported her death on Monday, citing a representative, and noted that she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Saint James was born Susan Jane Miller on Aug. 14, 1946, in Los Angeles. Her family moved to Rockford, Illinois, when she was young, and she began her career modeling in Paris as a teenager. She returned to Los Angeles at age 20 and signed a seven-year contract with Universal Studios. Her television career started with the 1966 film Fame is the Name of the Game, which became the series The Name of the Game in 1968. She won an Emmy Award in 1969 for her performance in that show.

Her most famous role came in the 1970s crime series McMillan & Wife, which aired from 1971 to 1976. She played Sally McMillan, the wife of Rock Hudson’s character, a San Francisco police commissioner. The role earned her three Emmy nominations. She left the NBC show before its final season due to a contract dispute, and her character was written out of the story via a plane crash.

In the 1980s, Saint James co-starred in the CBS sitcom Kate & Allie from 1984 to 1989. She played Kate, a free-spirited woman, opposite Jane Curtin’s character Allie. The series earned her two additional Emmy nominations. Her film credits during this era included Love at First Bite and Carbon Copy, the latter marking the movie debut of Denzel Washington.

Saint James met Dick Ebersol, then the executive producer of Saturday Night Live, in 1981. They married shortly after meeting and had three sons: Charlie, Willie, and Teddy. The family lived in Litchfield, Connecticut, where Saint James focused on raising her children after her acting career slowed. Her youngest son, Teddy, died in a private plane crash in 2004. The accident occurred in snowy weather in Colorado, killing the 14-year-old boy, the pilot, and a flight attendant. Ebersol and Charlie survived the crash with serious injuries.

In a statement to People, her family described her as someone who never met a stranger. They said every person she interacted with became the most important person in the room at that moment. The statement also noted that weeks after losing Teddy, she delivered his eulogy, providing words to help her other children and husband heal. Ebersol called her the greatest partner he had ever had in his 2022 memoir.

Saint James retired from full-time acting after Kate & Allie ended but continued to make guest appearances on shows including The Drew Carey Show, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Suits. She co-founded a baby gift basket business called Seedling and Pip in 1998. She also served on the board of directors for the Special Olympics. She is survived by her husband, her children, and her niece Christa Miller.