Susan Saint James, Emmy-winning actor of ‘McMillan & Wife’ and ‘Kate & Allie,’ dies at 80

Susan Saint James, who costarred with Rock Hudson in the 1970s TV crime series “McMillan & Wife” and later costarred with Jane Curtin in the sitcom “Kate & Allie” in the 1980s, has died. She was 80.

People magazine, citing a representative for the actor, said Saint James died Monday. She had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

“She never met a stranger,” her family said in a statement to People. “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.”

Born Susan Jane Miller on Aug. 14, 1946, in Los Angeles, she was raised in the northern Illinois city of Rockford, where her father had transferred for work. She began modeling as a teenager in Paris.

At 20, she moved back to Los Angeles and landed a seven-year contract with Universal Studios. She made her television debut in the 1966 movie “Fame is the Name of the Game” with Tony Franciosa.

She got another break when it became a series called “The Name of the Game” in 1968, with rotating lead characters played by Franciosa, Gene Barry and Robert Stack. Saint James provided the show continuity in her role as Peggy Maxwell, a research assistant who worked for all three men. She won an Emmy Award for the part in 1969.

Before “The Name of the Game,” Saint James had a recurring role in the crime-caper series “It Takes a Thief” starring Robert Wagner. Her other early TV credits included “Ironside,” “McCloud” and “Alias Smith and Jones.” In 1980, she guest-starred in an episode of “M*A*S*H.”

Saint James, known for her unique, throaty voice, had a supporting role in the 1968 movie “Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows” starring Rosalind Russell and Stella Stevens.

She earned her biggest fame as Sally McMillan, the plucky wife of Hudson’s San Francisco police commissioner Stewart McMillan, in the hit series “McMillan & Wife” from 1971-76. She received three Emmy nominations for the role.

Saint James left the NBC show before its sixth and final season because of a contract dispute, with her character killed off in a plane crash. She then turned to feature films.

She played opposite Peter Fonda in “Outlaw Blues” in 1977. She costarred with George Hamilton in the 1979 vampire spoof “Love at First Bite” and joined Jessica Lange and Curtin in the 1980 comedy heist “How to Beat the High Cost of Living.” She costarred in the 1981 romantic comedy “Carbon Copy,” in which Denzel Washington made his movie debut.

After middling success on the big screen, Saint James reunited with Curtin in the CBS sitcom “Kate & Allie,” which ran from 1984-89 and earned Saint James two Emmy nominations as the free-spirited Kate to Curtin’s straight-laced Allie.

While guest-hosting “Saturday Night Live” in 1981, Saint James met Dick Ebersol, the show’s then-executive producer and the future chairman of NBC Sports. They married barely six weeks after meeting and had three sons, Charlie, Willie and Teddy.

Teddy died at age 14 in a 2004 private plane crash that also killed the pilot and flight attendant; Ebersol and Charlie survived with serious injuries.

The family had spent Thanksgiving in Los Angeles and were due to make multiple stops on the return trip. The flight landed first in Colorado, where Saint James got off to go to the family’s second home. It crashed upon taking off again for Indiana in snowy weather.

Her family’s statement mentions the loss: “Her defining act: weeks after losing her youngest son, Teddy, in the Nov. 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.”

Saint James filed for divorce from Ebersol in 2002, but they reconciled later that year. “We had a second chance,” she told People magazine in 2002. “I’m amazingly happier, so that’s a good sign.”

In his 2022 memoir “From Saturday Night to Sunday Night,” Ebersol called Saint James “the greatest partner I’ve ever had by far.”

She retired when “Kate & Allie” ended, choosing to focus on raising her younger children in Litchfield, Connecticut, while Ebersol took the executive job at NBC Sports.

Saint James made occasional guest appearances after that, including as the mother of her real-life look-alike niece Christa Miller on “The Drew Carey Show,” as well as “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Suits.” In 1999, she starred in a production of “The Miracle Worker” in Torrington, Connecticut.

In 1998, Saint James, her sister, Mercedes Dewey, and a friend founded Seedling and Pip, a baby gift basket business with a focus on books based in Litchfield.

She was a longtime supporter of Special Olympics, volunteering and serving on its board of directors.

Besides her husband, she is survived by daughter Sunshine and son Harmony from her second marriage to makeup artist Tom Lucas, with whom she remained friends; sons Charlie and Willie with Ebersol; and Miller, whose first TV role was on “Kate & Allie.” Saint James’ first marriage to Richard Neubert ended in divorce.

曾与洛克·哈德森共同出演20世纪70年代电视犯罪剧《麦克米兰与妻子》，后又在20世纪80年代与简·柯廷共同出演情景喜剧《凯特与艾莉》的苏珊·圣詹姆斯去世，享年80岁。

《人物》杂志援引这位演员的代表的话称，圣詹姆斯于周一去世。她此前被诊断出患有胰腺癌。

她的家人在给《人物》杂志的一份声明中说：“她从不觉得和陌生人有什么不自在。从董事会同事到鞋店店员，她遇到的每个人都会成为当时房间里最重要的人，而店员通常都会了解她的全部人生故事。”

苏珊·简·米勒于1946年8月14日出生于洛杉矶，在伊利诺伊州北部城市罗克福德长大，她的父亲因工作调动搬到了那里。十几岁时，她开始在巴黎从事模特工作。

20岁时，她搬回洛杉矶，并与环球影业签订了一份为期七年的合同。1966年，她与托尼·弗兰西奥萨共同出演了电影《名利场》，这是她的电视首秀。

1968年，这部剧被改编成电视剧《游戏的名字》（The Name of the Game），由弗兰西奥萨、吉恩·巴里和罗伯特·斯塔克轮流饰演主角，圣詹姆斯也因此获得了又一次机会。她在剧中饰演佩吉·麦克斯韦，一位同时为这三位男主角工作的研究助理，为剧情提供了连贯性。她凭借这个角色在1969年荣获艾美奖。

在出演《游戏的名字》之前，圣詹姆斯曾在罗伯特·瓦格纳主演的犯罪喜剧系列剧《侠盗罗宾汉》中担任常驻角色。她早期的其他电视作品包括《铁面无私》、《麦克劳德》和《史密斯与琼斯》。1980年，她客串出演了电视剧《陆军野战医院》的一集。

圣詹姆斯以其独特的沙哑嗓音而闻名，曾在 1968 年的电影《天使去哪儿，麻烦就跟到哪儿》中担任配角，该片由罗莎琳德·拉塞尔和斯特拉·史蒂文斯主演。

她在1971年至1976年的热播剧《麦克米兰夫妇》中饰演哈德逊旧金山警察局长斯图尔特·麦克米兰的勇敢妻子莎莉·麦克米兰，并因此一举成名。她凭借该角色获得了三项艾美奖提名。

圣詹姆斯因合同纠纷在NBC剧集第六季（也是最后一季）开播前离开了剧组，她的角色在一场空难中丧生。之后，她转战电影界。

1977年，她与彼得·方达共同出演了《亡命蓝调》。1979年，她与乔治·汉密尔顿共同主演了吸血鬼喜剧片《一见钟情》，1980年，她与杰西卡·兰格和柯廷共同出演了喜剧犯罪片《如何战胜高昂的生活成本》。1981年，她参演了浪漫喜剧《碳拷贝》，丹泽尔·华盛顿也凭借此片完成了他的电影处女作。

在大银幕上取得中等成功后，圣詹姆斯与柯廷在 CBS 情景喜剧《凯特与艾莉》中重聚，该剧从 1984 年到 1989 年播出，圣詹姆斯凭借饰演自由奔放的凯特和柯廷饰演的一本正经的艾莉而获得两项艾美奖提名。

1981年，圣詹姆斯在客串主持《周六夜现场》时，结识了该节目当时的执行制片人、后来的NBC体育主席迪克·埃伯索尔。两人相识仅六周后便结婚，育有三个儿子：查理、威利和泰迪。

泰迪在 2004 年的一次私人飞机坠毁事故中丧生，年仅 14 岁，同机的还有飞行员和乘务员；埃伯索尔和查理幸存下来，但身受重伤。

这家人在洛杉矶度过了感恩节，返程途中计划经停多站。飞机首先降落在科罗拉多州，圣詹姆斯在那里下机前往他们家的第二处住所。飞机在再次起飞前往印第安纳州时，因天气下大雪而坠毁。

她的家人在声明中提到了这场悲剧：“她最令人难忘的举动：在2004年11月28日的空难中失去她的小儿子泰迪几周后，她以书面形式向她的其他子女和丈夫表达了对儿子的悼念，用文字抚慰他们的伤痛。即使在她人生中最深切的悲痛中，她也始终把其他人放在第一位。”

圣詹姆斯于2002年向埃伯索尔提出离婚，但同年晚些时候两人复合。“我们获得了第二次机会，”她在2002年接受《人物》杂志采访时表示，“我现在快乐多了，这是个好兆头。”

埃伯索尔在 2022 年出版的回忆录《从周六晚上到周日晚上》中称圣詹姆斯是“迄今为止我遇到的最伟大的合作伙伴”。

《凯特与艾莉》结束后，她选择退休，专注于在康涅狄格州利奇菲尔德抚养年幼的孩子，而埃伯索尔则在NBC体育担任了高管职位。

此后，圣詹姆斯偶尔会客串出演一些剧集，包括在《德鲁·凯瑞秀》中饰演她现实生活中长相酷似的侄女克丽斯塔·米勒的母亲，以及在《法律与秩序：特殊受害者》和《金装律师》中亮相。1999年，她在康涅狄格州托灵顿主演了话剧《奇迹创造者》。

1998 年，圣詹姆斯和她的妹妹梅赛德斯·杜威以及一位朋友在利奇菲尔德创办了 Seedling and Pip，这是一家以书籍为重点的婴儿礼品篮公司。

她长期以来都是特殊奥林匹克运动会的支持者，曾担任志愿者和董事会成员。

除了丈夫之外，她还留下了与第二任丈夫——化妆师汤姆·卢卡斯所生的女儿桑夏恩和儿子哈莫尼（两人一直保持着朋友关系）；与埃伯索尔所生的儿子查理和威利；以及儿子米勒（他的首个电视角色是在《凯特与艾莉》中出演）。圣詹姆斯与理查德·纽伯特的第一段婚姻以离婚告终。