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Headshot of Eva Marie Saint, US actress, wearing a white knitted cardigan, posing against a rock, circa 1960© Getty Images

Eva Marie Saint's family life at 100: meet her 2 children, plus her grandkids and great-grandkids

The North by Northwest and On the Waterfront star welcomed her two children with her late husband

Ahad Sanwari
Ahad Sanwari - New York
Senior WriterNew York
July 3, 2025
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Eva Marie Saint remains, to this day, the oldest living and earliest surviving Academy Award winner, one of the last legacy stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood.

The actress, who turned 100 last July, won her Oscar back in 1955 starring opposite Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, and has notched several other memorable performances in her decades-long career, including North by Northwest, A Hatful of Rain, 36 Hours and Grand Prix.

However, now the star's life is devoted to taking care of herself and being with her family, and she's built quite the family unit to be proud of!

Take a look at the actress' family life below in honor of her 101st birthday on July 4…

American television director Jeffrey Hayden (1926-2016), wearing a tuxedo and bow tie. and his wife, American actress Eva Marie Saint, wearing a fur evening wrap over her dress, with white evening gloves, attend the premiere of 'The Big Country, ' venue, Los Angeles, California, 1st October 1958. (Photo by Darlene Hammond/Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images)© Darlene Hammond

Eva Marie Saint's husband

In 1951, before she achieved her first breakthrough with 1953's The Trip to Bountiful, Eva married Jeffrey Hayden, a TV director and producer.

The director's career began with his first and only feature film, 1957's The Vintage. He then transitioned to TV, directing dozens of episodes of shows like Leave It to Beaver, The Andy Griffith Show, Burke's Law, Batman, Magnum P.I., In the Heat of the Night, and many more, stretching all the way into the 1990s.

Actress Eva Marie Saint (R) and husband Jeffrey Hayden attend The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences' 60th Anniversary Screening Of "On The Waterfront" at Bing Theatre At LACMA on June 6, 2014 in Los Angeles, California© Getty Images

Eva and Jeffrey

During a conversation with NPR, Eva recalled that the pair met on the New York City subway. “[I was] carrying a modeling book with my name, Eva Marie Saint, in gold in little letters at the bottom. And the name intrigued him."

"He didn't see me from the front. It was the back. Oh, and the way I walked. And that was the moment," she remembered. Jeffrey passed away in 2016 at the age of 90, with the pair married for 65 years.

Eva Marie Saint holding son Darrell in publicity portrait for the film 'Raintree County', 1957© Getty Images

Eva Marie Saint's two children

Eva and Jeffrey welcomed two children together: a son named Darrell in 1955, and a daughter named Laurette in 1958. Darrell, in fact, was born two days after Eva won her Academy Award.

Now 70, Darrell is a design instructor, former faculty member at Academy of Art University and currently the founder of Speaking of Creative, specializing in creative services and design.

Laurette Hayden (L) and Eva Marie Saint attend the 90th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on March 4, 2018 in Hollywood, California.© Getty Images

Eva's children

Laurette, just weeks shy of her 67th birthday, started off her career as a film and TV producer, working with HBO, Lifetime Television and the USA Network before transitioning to therapy, now acting as a licensed marriage and family therapist, working with the PCH Treatment Center in Los Angeles.

Laurette Hayden, Miles Beller, Eli Beller, Eva Marie Saint and Jeffrey Hayden ***Exclusive*** © Getty Images

Eva Marie Saint's grandchildren and great-grandchildren

Laurette was married to Miles Beller from 1985 to 2021, per her IMDb page, and they welcomed a son named Eli Beller in 1990, who is now 35 years old.

Married couple director & producer Jeffrey Hayden (1926 - 2016) (left) and actor Eva Marie Saint (second left), with unidentified others, attend the 42nd annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Pasadena, California, September 16, 1990© Getty Images

Family brood

Less is known about Darrell's marriage, although he is himself a father-of-three, to 10-year-old daughter Stella and two older kids, Tyler and Molly, both of whom are now married. Through her grandchildren, Eva also reportedly has two great-grandchildren, telling People she celebrated her 100th birthday last year with "four generations" of family.

Darrell spoke with Academy of Art Athletics in 2020 about his kids, calling his youngest daughter incredibly creative, articulate, and empathic," and saying of his older two: "My son, Tyler, is a senior newspaper editor in Santa Barbara, and my daughter, Molly, is the vet tech at the California Academy of Sciences here in San Francisco."

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