Susan Saint James, 80, marked her milestone birthday with a rare public appearance at a Los Angeles home gathering.
The “Kate & Allie” star celebrated on Aug. 14 with family and friends at her residence, where photographers captured her in a casual white “Spiritual Gangster” T-shirt paired with a floral skirt. She accessorized with a red bandana, brown sunglasses, and white sneakers, with an ankle tattoo visible in the images. Three female guests wore bright summer dresses to the outdoor party.
Saint James first rose to national prominence in the late 1960s starring in the NBC drama “The Name of the Game,” a role that earned her the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1969. The series, an anthology-style show about a publishing empire, made her one of the most recognizable faces on television during that era.
She followed that success with starring roles in two more major series. First came the ABC spy adventure “It Takes a Thief” alongside Robert Wagner, then the NBC detective drama “McMillan & Wife” opposite Rock Hudson. The latter brought her four additional Emmy nominations across its six-season run from 1971 to 1977.
In 1984, Saint James began what would become her signature role, starring opposite Jane Curtin in the CBS sitcom “Kate & Allie.” The series followed two divorced mothers sharing a New York City brownstone to raise their children together, a premise that felt novel for its time and earned strong ratings throughout its six-season run. The show concluded in 1989.
Rather than pursue further acting roles, Saint James stepped away from Hollywood entirely while still in her 40s. She chose instead to concentrate on family life with her husband, television executive Dick Ebersol, and their children.
In the viral moment that reshaped her public narrative, tragedy struck in November 2004 when a private plane carrying Ebersol and two of their sons, Charles and Teddy, crashed during takeoff from Montrose Regional Airport in Colorado. Ebersol and Charles survived the accident, but Teddy, 14, was killed.
Saint James has spoken publicly about navigating that loss. “It’s hard because the circumstances can slow you down a lot, because you’re busy trying to justify this,” she said in a past interview. “But I had to find a way to live with this thing. I mean, how do you live with this thing? You have to find a way to make it, to own it, not to walk around it and pretend it didn’t happen.”
She noted at the time that her grandchildren had ushered her into what she called “a new phase” of life.
The Aug. 14 birthday gathering marked a rare photographic sighting of the former star, who has largely maintained her privacy in the decades since leaving the entertainment industry.
Saint James’s enduring legacy in television history remains anchored by her Emmy win and her four nominations, as well as the groundbreaking premise of “Kate & Allie,” which earned both her and Curtin individual Emmy recognition during its run.