Susan Saint James, Emmy-winning star of "McMillan & Wife" and "Kate & Allie," dies at 80

As of 6:58 a.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026

Susan Saint James, who starred opposite Rock Hudson in the 1970s TV series "McMillan & Wife" and alongside Jane Curtin in the 1980s sitcom "Kate & Allie," has died. She was 80.

Saint James died Monday, Oct. 26, after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a representative told PEOPLE, according to The Associated Press and Variety. Her family confirmed the diagnosis to PEOPLE.

"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."

Career

Born Susan Jane Miller in Los Angeles on Aug. 14, 1946, Saint James grew up in Rockford, Illinois, and began modeling as a teenager, AP reported. She won an Emmy in 1969 for playing research assistant Peggy Maxwell in NBC's "The Name of the Game."

She became best known as Sally McMillan, the wife of Hudson's San Francisco police commissioner, on "McMillan & Wife" from 1971 to 1976, a role that earned her three Emmy nominations. She returned to series TV in 1984 with CBS's "Kate & Allie," about two divorced mothers raising their children together in Manhattan, which ran until 1989 and brought two more Emmy nominations. Her films included "Outlaw Blues," "Love at First Bite" and "How to Beat the High Cost of Living."

She largely stepped away from acting after "Kate & Allie" to raise her family in Litchfield, Connecticut, AP reported, with later guest roles on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "Suits."

Family and advocacy

Saint James met Dick Ebersol, the former NBC Sports chairman, while hosting "Saturday Night Live" in 1981, and they married weeks later. Their youngest son was killed in a 2004 private plane crash in Colorado that Ebersol and another son survived, AP reported. Her family said that weeks after the crash she delivered her son's eulogy "as a note to each of her other children and her husband, giving them words to heal."

She was a longtime supporter of the Special Olympics and served on its board, AP reported. She is survived by Ebersol, four children and seven grandchildren, according to PEOPLE.