Susan Saint James died on Monday at 80 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. A representative told People on Tuesday, closing the final chapter on an actress whose name stayed tied to television success and Emmy recognition.
Kate & Allie and McMillan & Wife
Saint James was best known for Kate & Allie and McMillan & Wife, and the family’s statement also said she was generous with her time and energy and instinctively drawn to whoever needed lifting up. That public image fit the career she built after moving to Hollywood at 20 and changing her last name from Susan Jane Miller.
She landed a role on The Name of the Game in 1968 and received three Emmy nominations for it, winning once. Three years later, she signed on to McMillan & Wife and received three more Emmy nominations, a run that gave her a rare mix of network visibility and awards-season credibility.
Dick Ebersol and Tuesday
Her family said she is survived by Dick Ebersol, her four children, her seven grandchildren, her sister, Mary Mercedes Dewey, and her service dog, Lola. She and Ebersol met in 1981 while she was hosting Saturday Night Live, then went on a date after rehearsal and quickly fell for each other.
Saint James once told People in 1983, “I knew I was going to take down my old boyfriends’ pictures and ask him what he wanted for breakfast.” That line reads light, but it also tracks the pivot in her life: after years of acting credits and two marriages before Ebersol, the personal story had clearly caught up with the professional one.
McMillan & Wife ending
She later said of McMillan & Wife, “My character died. It was very sad, but [Hudson’s] character didn’t waste any time having any other girlfriends either!” The odd detail is part of the draw of her career: she was associated with shows that made her a familiar face, yet one of those roles ended with her character written out in death.
That makes Monday’s news feel less like a routine obituary than the close of a long television arc. For viewers who knew her through Kate & Allie or McMillan & Wife, the useful takeaway is simple: she died at 80, she had pancreatic cancer, and the family left no larger next step to track beyond the loss itself.
