MY LIFE IN 10 Pictures

GROWING UP in Delmar, New York, Eva Marie Saint didn’t dream of becoming an actress.

“I was very shy,” she said. “Sometimes I still am.” In fact, when Eva went off to college, she was intent on studying to be a third-grade teacher. But a dare to try out for a play changed all that. She found room to blossom — becoming a model, an actress, wife, mother of two and grandmother of four. Now Eva, who turns 100 on July 4, says her life has only improved with time. “The longer you live, the smarter you get, because you’ve been around, you’ve seen things, you’ve gone through different emotional experiences in your own life. And hopefully you understand things better.”

1 1953 NICE TRIP Taking the play The Trip to Bountiful from TV to Broadway, Eva got a big break — and a mentor in screen legend Lillian Gish. “She was just a wonderful spirit. She was the first one to rehearsal, the last one to leave. That’s what I try to do. Also, Lillian had a backbone of steel. And yet she was very sensitive. That’s what you have to be. At least, that’s what I have to be [in my career].”

2 1954 IN FRONT Eva won an Oscar for her film debut in On the Waterfront, finding co-star Marlon Brando “really adorable...and, you know, a little frightening. His perception of people was so keen. He could look at somebody or talk with them and home in on what that person was all about.”