Beloved television actress Susan Saint James, who captured America’s hearts on the hit shows Kate & Allie and McMillan & Wife, has died at 80, just two months after celebrating a milestone birthday surrounded by her family.
The Emmy-winning star died Monday, October 26, following a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, her representative confirmed to PEOPLE. Her death marks the loss of one of television’s most recognizable faces of the 1970s and 1980s.
Saint James’ family announced her passing in an emotional statement, remembering a woman whose warmth and generosity extended far beyond Hollywood.
“She never met a stranger,” her loved ones recalled, describing how she could make anyone feel like the most important person in the room.
Her passing comes just weeks after a particularly meaningful family celebration. In August, Saint James marked her 80th birthday with her husband, children and grandchildren, enjoying a concert by the Doobie Brothers before gathering with loved ones at home.
During the concert, the band dedicated “Black Water” to her late son Teddy, whose death in a devastating 2004 plane crash had forever changed the actress’s life.
According to her family, Saint James called the birthday festivities two of the best days of her entire life.
Born Susan Jane Miller in Los Angeles in 1946 and raised in Rockford, Illinois, Saint James dreamed of becoming a movie star from childhood. After a brief stint in college and a modeling career in New York, she moved to Hollywood, where her infectious personality and natural comedic timing quickly attracted attention.
Her breakthrough came in 1968 with the NBC drama The Name of the Game, which earned her the first of eight Emmy nominations. She won the award for supporting actress in 1969, establishing herself as one of television’s brightest rising stars.
But it was her chemistry with Hollywood heartthrob Rock Hudson that made her a household name.
Beginning in 1971, Saint James starred opposite Hudson in McMillan & Wife, playing Sally McMillan, the spirited wife of a San Francisco police commissioner. Their playful banter and crime-solving adventures helped make the series a television favorite.
Her success continued on the big screen with appearances in Love at First Bite and How to Beat the High Cost of Living, but another defining television role was still ahead.
In 1984, Saint James teamed up with Jane Curtin for Kate & Allie, a groundbreaking CBS sitcom about two divorced mothers who move in together and raise their children under one roof.
The series became a major hit, running for six seasons and earning Saint James two additional Emmy nominations. Its portrayal of female friendship, motherhood and independence helped distinguish it from other family comedies of the era.
Despite her flourishing career, Saint James made the surprising decision to largely walk away from Hollywood after the show ended in 1989.
The reason was simple: She wanted her children to have the spotlight at home.
Saint James had married television executive Dick Ebersol in 1981 after meeting him while hosting Saturday Night Live. Their romance moved at lightning speed, with the couple marrying just 42 days after their first meeting.
They welcomed three sons together, joining Saint James’ two children from her previous marriage.
But the family faced unimaginable heartbreak on November 28, 2004, when a private plane carrying Ebersol and two of their sons crashed during takeoff in Colorado.
Ebersol and their son Charlie survived, but 14-year-old Teddy was killed.
The loss devastated the family, yet Saint James became determined to help her loved ones navigate their grief.
At Teddy’s funeral, she delivered a deeply personal eulogy addressed to her surviving children and husband, offering each of them words of encouragement and comfort.
Her family said Saint James later received approximately 27,000 letters from people offering condolences and personally responded to an extraordinary 15,000 of them with handwritten notes.
Rather than retreating from the world, she devoted herself to supporting other parents who had experienced similar losses.
That compassion extended into her charitable work, particularly her decades-long involvement with the Special Olympics, where she served in leadership roles and helped raise money for athletes with intellectual disabilities.
Although she largely avoided the Hollywood spotlight in later years, Saint James occasionally returned to television, appearing on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Suits. She was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2008.
Away from acting, she embraced gardening, travel and time with her grandchildren, whom her family described as one of her greatest joys.
In recent years, Saint James and Ebersol also enjoyed road trips across America, attending minor league baseball games and embracing the quieter life she had chosen decades earlier.
Her family said that even after enduring tremendous personal tragedy, the actress never lost the optimism, humor and generosity that defined her life.
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 beloved service dog, Lola.
For generations of television viewers, she will be remembered as the quick-witted Sally McMillan and the independent Kate McArdle. For those who knew her best, however, her greatest legacy was the kindness she showed long after the cameras stopped rolling.
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