Susan Saint James dies at 80: Why the actor walked away from Hollywood at the height of her fame

Susan Saint James died at the age of 80 on Tuesday. She established herself in the entertainment industry through a long television career, winning an Emmy Award for The Name of the Game and McMillan & Wife prior to becoming a household name through the popular series Kate & Allie. However, upon the conclusion of Kate & Allie in 1989, the actor made a move which shocked the entertainment industry; she withdrew from acting. For Susan Saint James, success in Hollywood was far from the only important thing in life.

Spending time with her family, maintaining a connection with her husband, Dick Ebersol, and taking up things outside of television became a priority. According to the obituary by PEOPLE, she decided to live a peaceful life in Connecticut over a continued life on screen.

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It certainly wasn’t the last time that she made headlines. She continued to be involved with various charities, especially the Special Olympics, and sometimes made appearances on TV. But Saint James did not want her professional life to outshine her role as a parent.

This was part of her own decision-making process regarding her children’s upbringing.

Susan Saint James built a successful career before choosing family life

James entered Hollywood at a young age, after modelling.

She was born Susan Jane Miller in Los Angeles in 1946 and grew up in Rockford, Illinois, with ambitions in acting that she formed when she was younger. One of her early successes was on TV in “The Name of the Game,” where she won an Emmy in 1969, as reported by PEOPLE.

In 1971, she became Sally McMillan opposite Rock Hudson in “McMillan & Wife.” Again, she received several Emmy nominations and established herself as a top actress on TV. She then made appearances in movies such as “Outlaw Blues” and “Love at First Bite” before going back on TV.

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And in 1984, that chance came with the CBS comedy “Kate & Allie,” which paired Saint James with Jane Curtin as divorced women who share child-rearing duties. The show ran until 1989, and Saint James received more Emmy nominations.

PEOPLE has observed the show's importance in portraying women as complex individuals who lived lives that were not simply domestic.

Saint James had established an impressive television career by the end of the decade.

She was famous, had been nominated for awards, and had starred in a hit television show. But acting had provided her with some experience in making the trade-offs necessary to combine work and family.

Why Hollywood no longer fit the life she wanted

Saint James' choice to step back was also associated with her motherhood. As stated in her biography, in a 1993 interview for The Baltimore Sun, Saint James said that her children had grown up to the age when they had to become the focal point of attention at home and that she did not want her kids to feel neglected when she would enter the room.

This decision was more of a personal matter and not due to dislike of acting.

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Saint James had already gone through this struggle while making films and knew what difficulties location shoots, late working hours, and travelling could bring to family life. In her 2015 interview with Yahoo, Saint James said that filming while having children was very difficult especially if a production demanded her travels far away from home.

In addition, Saint James' decision was dictated by the need to raise a big family.

As is known, Saint James had two kids from her marriage to makeup artist Tom Lucas and three sons from Ebersol. Thus, when accepting role in Kate & Allie series, a production in New York helped Saint James to stay close to her family in Connecticut.

The biography by PEOPLE reveals that Saint James had been hesitant about becoming part of the sitcom, in part due to the fact that she did not want to work with child actors.

However, she took up the role, which allowed her to balance both a challenging career and a family life.

She decided not to continue working as a regular character on television after the sitcom ended. Rather than continue along the expected path of a successful actress, she opted to make acting a less prominent aspect of her life. There was an alternative priority for Saint James – her children's upbringing.

Life beyond acting brought new purpose

However, leaving Hollywood was not an excuse to withdraw from public activities.

Saint James remained engaged in social affairs, such as the Special Olympics. She even took part in the very first games in Chicago in 1968 and then joined the international committee and the board of directors of the Special Olympics Connecticut, according to the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame.

Apart from that, she was busy pursuing her business and personal interests.

In the 1990s, she established Seedling & Pip, which was a business devoted to selling various baby gifts and books. After that, she became a master gardener and together with Ebersol travelled throughout the country after his leaving the NBC in 2011.

Saint James did sometimes appear on screen even after Kate & Allie.

For example, she was cast in "The Drew Carey Show," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and "Suits." She received her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2008 for the successful career that led to five Emmy nominations.

She also experienced some personal tragedies in the form of losing people close to her.

In 2004, her youngest son, Teddy, died in an aeroplane crash in Colorado when he was only 14 years old. Later in her life, Saint James took the time to counsel other grieving parents, thanks to her own experience with grief. This is stated in PEOPLE, as the number of letters she received following the accident was estimated at thousands, and she even responded to most of them herself.

Susan Saint James died on October 26, 2026, at the age of 80, due to pancreatic cancer, as per PEOPLE. She left behind her husband, Ebersol, four children, seven grandchildren, and her sister.

Her leaving Hollywood was not about avoiding stardom or celebrity.

Her leaving Hollywood was about making way for family life, helping others, and other passions that would not earn her awards and ratings. Saint James had succeeded on television. What she needed were other accomplishments that meant more to her outside of it.