Susan Saint James · 1946–2026
The Emmy-winning star of McMillan & Wife and Kate & Allie has died at 80. Her family confirmed that she passed away on Monday, October 26, after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Photos: Susan Saint James at the SNL50 celebration, February 2025 (Page Six; NBC via Getty Images; and TheWrap; Getty Images); Susan Saint James in Kate & Allie, 1986 (Page Six; CBS via Getty Images); Susan Saint James in The Name of the Game, 1971, and in a 1970 publicity photo for the series (Universal Television publicity photos, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in Once Upon a Dead Man, the McMillan & Wife pilot film, 1971 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in Fame Is the Name of the Game, 1966 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in The Name of the Game, 1969 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons). Converted to WebP; display crops may apply.
Family quotations are from the statement given to People and reported by multiple outlets on 27 October 2026.
Susan Saint James · 1946–2026
A representative confirmed her death to People magazine. In a family statement, she was remembered as “generous with her time and energy, which she valued more than money, and instinctively drawn to whoever needed lifting up.” “She never met a stranger,” her family said.
Photos: Susan Saint James at the SNL50 celebration, February 2025 (Page Six; NBC via Getty Images; and TheWrap; Getty Images); Susan Saint James in Kate & Allie, 1986 (Page Six; CBS via Getty Images); Susan Saint James in The Name of the Game, 1971, and in a 1970 publicity photo for the series (Universal Television publicity photos, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in Once Upon a Dead Man, the McMillan & Wife pilot film, 1971 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in Fame Is the Name of the Game, 1966 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in The Name of the Game, 1969 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons). Converted to WebP; display crops may apply.
Family quotations are from the statement given to People and reported by multiple outlets on 27 October 2026.
Susan Saint James · 1946–2026
Born Susan Jane Miller on August 14, 1946, in Los Angeles and raised in Rockford, Illinois, she modelled in France and New York before heading to Hollywood at 20. Her first screen role came in the 1966 television movie Fame Is the Name of the Game.
Photos: Susan Saint James at the SNL50 celebration, February 2025 (Page Six; NBC via Getty Images; and TheWrap; Getty Images); Susan Saint James in Kate & Allie, 1986 (Page Six; CBS via Getty Images); Susan Saint James in The Name of the Game, 1971, and in a 1970 publicity photo for the series (Universal Television publicity photos, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in Once Upon a Dead Man, the McMillan & Wife pilot film, 1971 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in Fame Is the Name of the Game, 1966 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in The Name of the Game, 1969 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons). Converted to WebP; display crops may apply.
Family quotations are from the statement given to People and reported by multiple outlets on 27 October 2026.
Susan Saint James · 1946–2026
As research assistant Peggy Maxwell on The Name of the Game, she earned three Emmy nominations and won the award in 1969 — the beginning of a television career that would span three decades and three beloved series.
Photos: Susan Saint James at the SNL50 celebration, February 2025 (Page Six; NBC via Getty Images; and TheWrap; Getty Images); Susan Saint James in Kate & Allie, 1986 (Page Six; CBS via Getty Images); Susan Saint James in The Name of the Game, 1971, and in a 1970 publicity photo for the series (Universal Television publicity photos, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in Once Upon a Dead Man, the McMillan & Wife pilot film, 1971 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in Fame Is the Name of the Game, 1966 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in The Name of the Game, 1969 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons). Converted to WebP; display crops may apply.
Family quotations are from the statement given to People and reported by multiple outlets on 27 October 2026.
Susan Saint James · 1946–2026
In 1971 she joined Rock Hudson on McMillan & Wife, playing Sally McMillan, the sharp and funny wife of his San Francisco police commissioner. Five seasons and three more Emmy nominations made her one of television's most recognisable faces.
Photos: Susan Saint James at the SNL50 celebration, February 2025 (Page Six; NBC via Getty Images; and TheWrap; Getty Images); Susan Saint James in Kate & Allie, 1986 (Page Six; CBS via Getty Images); Susan Saint James in The Name of the Game, 1971, and in a 1970 publicity photo for the series (Universal Television publicity photos, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in Once Upon a Dead Man, the McMillan & Wife pilot film, 1971 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in Fame Is the Name of the Game, 1966 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in The Name of the Game, 1969 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons). Converted to WebP; display crops may apply.
Family quotations are from the statement given to People and reported by multiple outlets on 27 October 2026.
Susan Saint James · 1946–2026
In 1984 she returned as Kate McArdle in Kate & Allie, alongside Jane Curtin's Allie Lowell — two divorced friends raising their children under one New York roof. The CBS hit ran until 1989 and brought her two further Emmy nominations.
Photos: Susan Saint James at the SNL50 celebration, February 2025 (Page Six; NBC via Getty Images; and TheWrap; Getty Images); Susan Saint James in Kate & Allie, 1986 (Page Six; CBS via Getty Images); Susan Saint James in The Name of the Game, 1971, and in a 1970 publicity photo for the series (Universal Television publicity photos, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in Once Upon a Dead Man, the McMillan & Wife pilot film, 1971 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in Fame Is the Name of the Game, 1966 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in The Name of the Game, 1969 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons). Converted to WebP; display crops may apply.
Family quotations are from the statement given to People and reported by multiple outlets on 27 October 2026.
Susan Saint James · 1946–2026
On November 28, 2004, a plane crash in Colorado killed her youngest son, Teddy, aged 14; her husband and son Charlie survived. Weeks later, she delivered Teddy's eulogy as a note to each of her children and her husband. Her family called it her defining act: “Even in the deepest grief of her life, she put everyone else first.” She spent two decades comforting other grieving parents.
Photos: Susan Saint James at the SNL50 celebration, February 2025 (Page Six; NBC via Getty Images; and TheWrap; Getty Images); Susan Saint James in Kate & Allie, 1986 (Page Six; CBS via Getty Images); Susan Saint James in The Name of the Game, 1971, and in a 1970 publicity photo for the series (Universal Television publicity photos, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in Once Upon a Dead Man, the McMillan & Wife pilot film, 1971 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in Fame Is the Name of the Game, 1966 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in The Name of the Game, 1969 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons). Converted to WebP; display crops may apply.
Family quotations are from the statement given to People and reported by multiple outlets on 27 October 2026.
Susan Saint James · 1946–2026
She married NBC executive Dick Ebersol in 1981, weeks after they met when she hosted Saturday Night Live. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2008, and served on the boards of the Special Olympics and the Telluride Foundation. She is survived by Dick, her four children — Sunshine, Harmony, Charlie and Willie — seven grandchildren, her sister Mary Mercedes Dewey, and her service dog, Lola.
Photos: Susan Saint James at the SNL50 celebration, February 2025 (Page Six; NBC via Getty Images; and TheWrap; Getty Images); Susan Saint James in Kate & Allie, 1986 (Page Six; CBS via Getty Images); Susan Saint James in The Name of the Game, 1971, and in a 1970 publicity photo for the series (Universal Television publicity photos, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in Once Upon a Dead Man, the McMillan & Wife pilot film, 1971 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in Fame Is the Name of the Game, 1966 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); Susan Saint James in The Name of the Game, 1969 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons). Converted to WebP; display crops may apply.
Family quotations are from the statement given to People and reported by multiple outlets on 27 October 2026.
Susan Saint James · 1946–2026
“She brought that same fire and positivity to everything that followed, and never lost it,” her family said. Susan Saint James — Peggy, Sally, Kate — leaves behind a half-century of warmth on screen, and a family who say she made everyone she met feel like the most important person in the room.