Eva Marie Saint to give benefit performance

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Eva Marie Saint will return to her alma mater for a scholarship benefit performance dedicated to the memory of the professor who inspired her acting career.

The award-winning actress, who graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1946 along with her husband, noted producer and director Jeffrey Hayden, will present “On the Divide: An Afternoon with Willa Cather.” The readings of Cather's works, which will benefit the Eva Marie Saint Scholarship Fund, will be held April 14 at 2 p.m. in the Eva Marie Saint Theatre at BGSU.  

The couple's performance will honor the late Dr. Elden Smith. Saint, who followed her older sister to BGSU, was majoring in elementary education when her Delta Gamma sorority adviser urged her to try out for the play “Personal Appearance.” As the story goes, Smith–who was the sorority adviser's husband–needed a girl who looked like an actress. Saint was a campus beauty queen and looked the part.

The elementary education major won the role and it changed her life. She enrolled in one of Smith's introductory theatre courses, auditioned for other plays and switched her major to theatre.

Saint's many honors include an Academy Award for "On the Waterfront" and a 1990 Emmy for her role in "People Like Us." She received three more nominations for her work in television and has had a notable stage career as well. Most recently, in addition to the benefit performances she and Hayden have been doing, she has had supporting roles in the films “Superman Returns” in 2006 and “Because of Winn Dixie” in 2005.

Hayden's credits include some of television's most successful comedies, including the Andy Griffith and Donna Reed shows, plus numerous dramas including "Route 66," "Mannix" and "Peyton Place." He has received awards for his documentaries, including the PBS production "Children in America's Schools with Bill Moyers." He is also a prolific theatre director, with productions in New York and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Tickets to see them perform at BGSU are $50, $100 and $150, with the two higher levels to include a reception that Saint and Hayden will attend following the performance. For ticket information, call 419-372-0370 or send email to wsara@bgsu.edu. Tickets will not be available at the door.

The show is part of the University's Building Dreams Spring Celebration, commemorating the success thus far of the University's $120 million fund-raising campaign. To date, the campaign has raised more than $110 million to support University initiatives such as the Wolfe Center for the Arts, the BG Experience Vision and Values program and faculty and staff leadership positions. The campaign runs through December 2008.

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(Posted March 30, 2007)