Susan Saint James
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| Award-winning television and film star, mother of five children, executive member of the 1995 Special Olympics World Games Board.
Susan Saint James was born in California to a Connecticut family; her mother and grandmother were both schoolteachers who attended Connecticut State Universities. Susan was brought up with the expectation that women should lead active lives which combined career and family, yet she was educated, as she puts it, to write wonderful letters and to set a perfect table, to be a nun or a wife. Though she attended Connecticut College for Women before deciding to pursue a modeling and acting career, like most little girls she dreamt of being a movie star. Service, however, was always an important part of her life. While working on McMillan and Wife in California, Saint James was asked to help with the Special Olympics. Though she had never before met anyone who suffered from mental retardation, soon she had "fallen in love"; it was like learning a new language, she explains.
Susan returned to Connecticut in 1983 to star as Kate in the successful comedy series, Kate & Allie. Though she had a full-time job and a new baby, she sought out volunteer work to help her make new friends and to be of service. This was the beginning of her membership on the Board of the Connecticut Special Olympics. Four children later Susan retired from television and decided to devote herself full-time to family and volunteer work. She has served on the Board of the International Special Olympics since 1994. Susan Saint James has received many awards as both an actress and a volunteer. She has been nominated for ten Emmy's, winning as best supporting actress in 1968 for her role as Peggy Maxwell in Fame is the Name of the Game. More than a dozen major organizations have recognized her commitment to the Special Olympics and her leadership role as a spokesperson for volunteerism. These honors include the Saint Coletta Award from the Caritas Society, The Gold Key Award from the Connecticut Sport Writer's Alliance, and the Walter Camp Football Foundation Award, of which she was the first female recipient. Susan Saint James holds honorary doctorates from five Connecticut institutions: The University of Connecticut, the University of Bridgeport, Southern Connecticut State University, Albertus Magnus College, and the University of New Haven. | |||||||||
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