Susan Saint James, best known for her roles on the shows McMillian & Wife and Kate & Allie, has died at age 80.
A rep for the actress confirmed to People that Saint James died on Monday, October 26, after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
In a statement shared with the outlet, Saint James’ family remembered her as someone “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.”
They continued, “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. Her defining act: 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,” the statement read.
Saint James’ family noted that the actress “put everyone else first,” even in “the deepest grief of her life.”
“Days after the crash she sat with Tim Russert to thank the people who had reached out and to tell them the family was OK,” the statement read. “She brought that same fire and positivity to everything that followed, and never lost it.”
Saint James is survived by her husband, Dick Ebersol, and children Sunshine Lucas, Harmony Lucas, Charlie Ebersol and Willie Ebersol, as well as her seven grandchildren, sister Mary Mercedes Dewey and “beloved service dog” Lola. (Saint James shared daughter Sunshine and son Harmony with ex Tom Lucas, whom she divorced in 1977.)
Saint James got her start in Hollywood in the ‘60s, when she appeared in the movie Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows. She landed a role on the TV series The Name of The Game in 1968, earning three Emmy nominations for her performance and one win.
She then starred on McMillan & Wife in 1971, receiving three more Emmy nominations for her role as Sally McMillan. Saint James was part of the show for five seasons. In 1984, she began starring as Kate McArdle on the sitcom Kate & Allie, which earned her two Emmy nominations.
Saint James largely retired from acting in the ‘80s, but in the years after, she made some rare appearances on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and more. She received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2008.
