Susan Saint James

Happy Birthday to Susan Saint James! She was born in Los Angeles, California to Charles Daniel Miller, a businessman, and Constance Geiger Miller. Both her mother and grandmother were schoolteachers. Raised in Rockford, Illinois, Susan was a model briefly during her teens in both the U.S. and France. She later attended the Connecticut College for Women. Luck in Hollywood came almost immediately to her when she landed a seven-year contract with Universal Studios. As if that wasn't enough, her very first TV job would be a plum "girl Friday" role on a TV movie pilot, Fame Is the Name of the Game (1966) starring ultra-cool Anthony Franciosa and sexy femme fatale Jill St. John. audiences immediately took to Susan as the editorial assistant to investigative reporter Franciosa who snooped way too much and often found herself in life-threatening circumstances. Saint James would continue her role as Peggy Maxwell when the series was picked up. The Name of the Game (1968), with its revolving trio of stars Anthony Franciosa, Robert Stack and Gene Barry, became a hit and Susan earned three Emmy nominations, copping the trophy on her first try during the 1968-69 season. Cleverly downplaying her sexy allure and model good looks for a more down-to-earth appeal, Susan also had a fun recurring role as an equally klutzy thief who complicates things for Robert Wagner's suave cat burglar in It Takes a Thief (1968).

She hit her TV peak, however, as Police Commissioner Rock Hudson's plucky wife in McMillan & Wife (1971) from 1971 to 1976, her character still managing to get into her usual share of danger and trouble. She earned three more Emmy nominations. Having gotten her feet wet on the big screen with a few featured/co-star roles in the private eye drama P.J. (1968), the convent comedy Where Angels Go Trouble Follows! (1968), the romantic comedy/fantasy What's So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968) and the crime thriller Jigsaw (1968), Susan earned particular notice in the '70s with the action comedy Outlaw Blues (1977) opposite Peter Fonda, the cult Dracula spoof Love at First Bite (1979) opposite George Hamilton, the female buddy crime caper How to Beat the High Cost of Living (1980) costarring Jane Curtain, Jessica Lange, Dabney Coleman and Fred Willard, and as George Segal's shrewish wife in Carbon Copy (1981) which was the debut film of Denzel Washington. Between films, she made a guest appearance in the March 3, 1980, episode of M*A*S*H ("War Co-Respondent"). Wisely, Susan returned to her comfy TV series format co-starring (again) with Jane Curtin in the sitcom Kate & Allie (1984), which lasted five seasons. She earned two additional Emmy nominations playing an adventurous free spirited role versus Curtin's more conservative character.

Saint James also thrived on TV movie comedies and dramas with several vehicles, including Magic Carpet (1972), Desperate Women (1978), Night Cries (1978), The Girls in the Office (1979), S.O.S. Titanic (1979), The Kid from Nowhere (1982) and I Take These Men (1983) coming her way. In later years, Saint James chose to back away from the limelight following the cancellation of Kate & Allie. Moving to Connecticut, she devoted her time to raising a family and dedicating herself to charity work, notably the Special Olympics, for which she served on the board of directors. Since then, she has received several honors as a spokesperson for volunteerism. Susan appeared infrequently on talk shows (David Letterman, Oprah Winfrey) She went on to grace the first episode of The Drew Carey Show (1995), in which niece Christa Miller was a co-star. More recently, she has been seen on episodes of the TV series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Suits and had a recurring role on several 2020 episodes of Upland. In 2008. She also starred in a Warner Theatre (Torrington, Connecticut) 1999 production of The Miracle Worker.

Saint James married aspiring writer-director Richard Neubert at age 21, but the marriage lasted only a year. She was married a second time in 1971, to Thomas Lucas, a makeup artist. They had a daughter, Sunshine Lucas (born 1972), and a son, Harmony Lucas (born 1974); the marriage lasted six years. While guest-hosting Saturday Night Live in 1981, Saint James met her third husband, then-SNL executive producer Dick Ebersol; they married within the year. The marriage produced three sons, Charles, William, and Edward (Teddy). In March 2002 Saint James filed for divorce from Ebersol, but the couple reconciled later that summer. Ebersol was chairman of NBC Sports until May 2011. On November 28, 2004, a private plane carrying Ebersol and two of their sons crashed during an attempted takeoff from Montrose Regional Airport in Colorado. Ebersol and son Charles survived, but son Teddy, age 14, died, as did the pilot and flight attendant Warren T. Richardson III. Teddy Ebersol's Red Sox Fields at Lederman Park in Boston is named in memory of Saint James's son, and an episode of the television series Scrubs was dedicated to him. She turns 74.