Susan Saint James Was The Name of The Game

 

(Screenshot of Susan Saint James from The Name of the Game)

I was saddened to hear of the passing of actress Susan Saint James. She died of pancreatic cancer yesterday at the age of 80.

Saint James has been out of the public limelight for many years having last acted in 2011 on an episode of Suits. But there was a time when Saint James was a fixture on television. Her first notable role was as Peggy Maxwell on the NBC TV series The Name of the Game co-starring with Gene Barry, Robert Stack and Anthony Franciosa between 1968 to 1971. She would win her lone Emmy for this role. 

Saint James would then co-star with Rock Hudson in the NBC Murder Mystery TV series McMillan and Wife from 1971 to 1976 before finding success once more with the CBS TV sitcom Katie and Allie with Jane Curtin from 1984 to 1989. 

It wasn't until about 2013 that I saw The Name of the Game when it aired on COZI TV. Saint James was the thread that kept the show running as the three male leads would alternate episodes. There was an energy and exuberance to her performance which served as a counterbalance to her older male co-stars. Her portrayal of Peggy Maxwell exemplified a good-hearted idealism which could occasionally get her in hot water. Barry, Stack and Franciosa didn't try to stamp out Peggy's idealism but helped fine tune it by subtlety pointing her in a better direction. The Name of the Game is a vastly underrated TV show with a groovy opening theme composed by Dave Grusin.

In thinking about Susan Saint James, she shares one harrowing thing in common with Walter Koenig who passed the day before she did. Both of them had children predecease them. Koenig's son Andrew took his own life in his 40s in 2010 while Saint James' son Teddy Ebersol was killed in a plane crash at the age of 14 in 2004. 

The crash also injured his father Dick Ebersol and older brother Charlie Ebersol while killing the pilot and crew. The younger Ebersol was an avid Boston Red Sox fan, and several baseball fields were constructed along the Charles River between Boston and Cambridge in his memory.

One can only imagine the grief she endured losing her youngest child. Yet upon her passing, her family marveled how she composed herself with remarkable reserve and strength stating, "Even in the deepest grief of her life, she put everyone else first."  

Susan Saint James found her own way to carry on. That was her name of the game. R.I.P.