Beloved TV actress dead at 80: ‘She never met a stranger’

EntertainmentDuncan "Dick" Ebersol, television executive and a senior adviser for NBC Universal Sports & Olympics, and his wife Susan Saint James walking down the red carpet at the 2022 Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony at Springfield Symphony Hall Saturday evening, Sept. 10, 2022. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican)Susan Saint James, best known for her roles in TV series “McMillan & Wife” and “Kate & Allie,” died Monday at the age of 80.A representative for Saint James confirmed to PEOPLE that the actress died after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.Her family remembers Saint James as someone who was “generous with her time and energy, which she valued more than money, and instinctively drawn to whoever needed lifting up. She taught her children to pause, be kind and look out for other people,” per a statement to PEOPLE.“She never met a stranger. 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. Her defining act: weeks after losing her youngest son, Teddy, in the November 28, 2004 plane crash, she delivered his eulogy as a note to each of her other children and her husband, giving them words to heal. Even in the deepest grief of her life, she put everyone else first. Days after the crash she sat with Tim Russert to thank the people who had reached out and to tell them the family was OK.“She brought that same fire and positivity to everything that followed, and never lost it. She is survived by her husband, Dick Ebersol, her four children–Sunshine Lucas, Harmony Lucas, Charlie Ebersol and Willie Ebersol–her seven grandchildren; her sister, Mary Mercedes Dewey, as well as her beloved service dog, Lola.”One of her earliest movies was 1968’s “Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows.” In the same year, she landed a role on the TV series “The Name of the Game” in which she won an Emmy.In 1971, she signed on to “McMillan & Wife.”Hudson opposite her.Mark Heim is a senior writer who provides sports, news and trending content. He co-hosts a daily sports radio show on WNSP-FM 105.5 in Mobile. Heim has been recognized with awards for his writing, headlines and...