Susan Saint James' cause of death has been confirmed more than a week after the Kate & Allie star died at 80.
According to a death certificate obtained by People, the Emmy-nominated actress died on Oct. 26, 2026, from metastatic pancreatic cancer, only months after her diagnosis. Her representative had confirmed the death to People on Oct. 27.
In that statement, her family remembered Saint James as someone "generous with her time and energy, which she valued more than money, and instinctively drawn to whoever needed lifting up." They said she "never met a stranger" and treated everyone -- from board members to shop clerks -- as the most important person in the room. She is survived by husband Dick Ebersol; children Sunshine Lucas, Harmony Lucas, Charlie Ebersol and Willie Ebersol; seven grandchildren; sister Mary Mercedes Dewey; and her service dog, Lola.
Saint James marked her 80th birthday in August with what relatives later described as two of the best days of her life. The night before her party she attended a Doobie Brothers concert -- a band she had toured with decades earlier -- where the group dedicated "Black Water," her late son Teddy's favorite song, to her. The next day her family gathered in the backyard of her Los Angeles home for a low-key celebration.
Best known for McMillan & Wife opposite Rock Hudson and for Kate & Allie opposite Jane Curtin, Saint James earned multiple Emmy nominations across both series. After her death, Curtin told Page Six, "We lost a decent person today," praising the laughter and family atmosphere Saint James brought to the Ed Sullivan Theater set while juggling activism, motherhood and the grief of losing her son Teddy in a 2004 plane crash.
The confirmed cause closes one public question about her final months, while the tributes keep the focus where her family put it: on kindness, curiosity and a career that helped define network comedy and drama for a generation.
Source: Page Six
