Eva Marie Saint: Secret Weapon of ‘North by Northwest’ 1959

Eva Marie Saint as mystery woman Eve Kendall, subtle & seductive in 'North by Northwest.'

North by Northwest is one of my all-time favorites, yet I hesitated to write about this cinema chase classic. What else is there to say about the famed Hitchcock film?

As I watched North by Northwest again, I realized the secret weapon is Eva Marie Saint, as mystery woman Eve Kendall. It also happens that Eva Marie Saint turns 96 on July 4, so it seems fitting to pay tribute to the actress’ talents in the Hitchcock classic. FYI, North by Northwest premiered 61 years ago, July 1, 1959, which made me want to write about this gem even more!

Eva Marie Saint paid tribute to that gorgeous red dress at a recent Oscars appearance, still looking stylish!

Like fellow movie star Audrey Hepburn and television’s Mary Tyler Moore, Eva Marie Saint was the thinking man’s sex symbol of her era: smart, charismatic, fun, good-hearted, and lovely in a non-stereotypical way.

'North by Northwest' played up both the suspense and sex angles of this Hitchcock classic.

Hitchcock found his ideal film blonde in Grace Kelly, starring in three of his films. Then Grace retired from the screen, going from movie queen to real life princess. The Wrong Man starred his next muse, Vera Miles, who inconveniently kept having babies. Next, Kim Novak starred in Vertigo, whose vulnerabilities made her perfect casting as the enigmatic blonde. After Saint in North by Northwest came Janet Leigh’s sympathetic, brisk presence in Psycho, and finally, Hitch’s protégé Tippi Hedren, who had the look but neither the talent nor charisma to be the next Hitchcock blonde. From the mid-1960s on, audiences no longer found cool blondes teasing fire beneath the surface enthralling. Evaluating the actresses, Miles has yet to receive revision, Psycho is one of Leigh’s key roles, and Novak and Hedren now have their defenders.

As elusive Eve Kendall, Eva Marie Saint got a chance to play someone other than a nice girl.

What about Eva Marie Saint? In her day, Saint was well-liked by fans and critics, and well-received as a Hitchcock blonde. But between Kelly’s iconic legacy and the latter day evaluation of Novak and Hedren, Saint’s been a bit overshadowed. I think that Eva Marie Saint is a bit like Dorothy McGuire, both of whom were lovely in an accessible way, skilled, effortless, and naturalistic. Both Eva and Dorothy had more of a foot in modern day acting than their contemporaries. They had quiet personal lives as well, not for public display, and have since been a bit overlooked and underestimated as actors and stars.

Saint's Eve and Cary Grant's Roger Thornhill weren't strangers on a train for long!

What Eva brought to North by Northwest, encouraged by Hitchcock, was an understated, confident, smart sex appeal. Brains and beauty were a hallmark of the Hitchcock blonde. After playing several sweet young things, Eva got to play the bad girl/good girl role as Eve Kendall. Eva’s Eve initiates an introduction to Cary Grant’s man on the lam, while aboard the 20^th Century Limited. Sparks and risqué repartee fly with Eve and Grant’s Roger Thornhill, but many twists and turns follow their further meet ups. Saint’s subtle changes in Eve’s supposed character benefited from her Actors Studio training, and was visually enhanced by Saint’s smooth makeover, guided by Hitchcock. North by Northwest presented her as a subtle siren who lures Cary Grant’s leading man. The scenario of the ambiguous female and the distrustful male, by the way, was reminiscent of the roles Grant and Ingrid Bergman played in Notorious.

However, romancing Eve isn't as easy as it seems!

As Eve, Eva Marie Saint skillfully goes from a seductive stranger on a train to two-timing traitor to redeemed heroine, performed in a stylish but straightforward way. North by Northwest was the twilight of an era when actors still acted in elevated studio system style, such as Lana Turner in the same year’s Imitation of Life. Eva acts with panache, but not with quotation marks.

Eva Marie Saint, as Eve, heading toward the film's famed climactic sequence.

In one of Pauline Kael’s essays on classic films, the famously cranky critic took a swipe at Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest, writing that Eva looked embalmed. Since Kael was not a Hitchcock fan, this isn’t surprising. Still, I take exception to that evaluation. Hair and makeup were cartoonish on nearly all the ‘50s female stars. In contrast, Eva’s sleek, simple hairstyle and sophisticated but subtle makeup brings out her best qualities, including those huge blue eyes. Her whole look is sleek, including the lovely clothes Eva and Hitch picked from pricey NYC stores. That includes the striking black frock with red overlay flowers that is proper in the front and party in nearly backless back!

The famous red and black dress, from a NYC shopping trip with Hitch & Eva Marie Saint.

The dress symbolized Hitch's preference for sexy to be subtle.

Despite the difference in their training, Saint from the Actors’ Studio and Grant from the Hollywood studio system, Eva and Cary got on quite well. Cary Grant was generous to her, with his star perks. Grant made sure that the lighting flattered fair Eva as well as tan Cary, and that when he approved publicity photos, they favored both of them.

As a relative newcomer to films, established star Cary Grant had Eva Marie Saint's back.

Saint has commented that her character comes into the story a bit late, something I noticed too, in this enthralling but tad overlong film. Eva as Eve comes in at the 45 minute mark of the 130 minute film. At the time, Saint’s husband told her to consider the script as a whole, not just the size of her role. Janet Leigh found that out she took her part in Psycho, despite the character getting dispatched less than half way through.

Eva Marie Saint performs the role of Eve with style, without falling into the era's outdated acting style.

Once Eva’s character is introduced, Eve Kendall and Roger Thornhill zigzag around each other, which added a genuine romantic tension on top of the espionage thriller’s stakes. Eve Kendall is a forerunner to the modern movie heroine and benefits greatly from having a multi-faceted performer like Eva Marie Saint to essay her.

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