'Kate & Allie' Star Susan Saint James Dies at 80

American actress Susan Saint James, known for "McMillan & Wife" and "Kate & Allie," has died. People magazine reported that she died on Monday at the age of 80 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

A representative told People that 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.

The representative also described what they called 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. Days after the crash she sat with Tim Russert to thank the people who had reached out and to tell them the family was okay.

The representative added that she brought that same fire and positivity to everything that followed, and never lost it.

Susan Saint James began her career in modeling before switching to television. Her breakthrough came in 1968, when she landed the role of research assistant Peggy Maxwell on NBC’s "The Name of the Game." Her performance earned her a Primetime Emmy Award in 1969 and established her as one of television’s rising stars.

Her biggest fame, however, came as Sally McMillan, the plucky wife of Rock Hudson’s San Francisco police commissioner Stewart McMillan in the hit series "McMillan & Wife," which ran from 1971 to 1976.

She left the NBC show before its sixth and final season because of a contract dispute, and her character was killed off in a plane crash in the series.

She later found renewed success alongside Jane Curtin in the popular CBS sitcom "Kate & Allie," which ran from 1984 to 1989.

She was also known for roles in "Love at First Bite," "How to Beat the High Cost of Living," "M*A*S*H," "Law & Order: SVU" and "Suits."

Off screen, she was married to longtime NBC executive and former "Saturday Night Live" producer Dick Ebersol, whom she met while hosting the comedy show in 1981. The family suffered a devastating tragedy in 2004, when their 14-year-old son, Teddy, died in a private plane crash in Colorado. Before Ebersol, she had been married to Richard Neubert and makeup artist Tom Lucas.

She is survived by her husband, her four children – Sunshine Lucas, Harmony Lucas, Charlie Ebersol and Willie Ebersol – her seven grandchildren, her sister Mary Mercedes Dewey, and her beloved service dog, Lola.

After "Kate & Allie" ended, Saint James largely stepped away from Hollywood to concentrate on her family and charitable work, particularly her longtime involvement with the Special Olympics.