She had two Emmy nominations and a hit sitcom, yet Susan Saint James chose to walk off the set for good.
Susan Saint James left Hollywood in 1989, right after her sitcom Kate & Allie ended its six-season run on CBS, choosing to focus on raising her five children and supporting her husband Dick Ebersol's new executive role at NBC Sports rather than chase another series.
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Why Susan Saint James Left Hollywood When Her Career Was Thriving
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Saint James was not pushed out of the business. She left on her own terms, at the peak of her popularity, playing Kate McArdle opposite Jane Curtin. The show followed two divorced women sharing a home and raising their kids together, and it turned Saint James into a bona fide comedy star. She earned two Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, recognition that came in 1984 and 1985, right as the show was taking off.
So why did she quit while things were going so well? The honest answer is family. Saint James and Ebersol had five children, and Ebersol was stepping into a demanding senior job running NBC Sports. Saint James decided someone needed to be home full time, and she wanted that to be her. The family settled in Litchfield, Connecticut, far from the studio lights, and she stepped back from acting almost completely.
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The Earlier Exit That Hinted at a Pattern
This was not the first time Saint James had walked away from a hit show. Years before Kate & Allie, she played Sally McMillan on NBC's McMillan & Wife opposite Rock Hudson, a role that ran from 1971 to 1976. She left before the sixth and final season because of a contract dispute, and the show's writers killed her character off in a plane crash to explain her absence.
After leaving that series, she tried to build a film career, appearing in movies like Outlaw Blues. But the big-screen success never quite matched what she had on television. It took nearly a decade before she found her way back to series television with Kate & Allie in 1984, a role that would define the rest of her screen career.
A Happy Ending That Turned Complicated
Saint James expected her retirement to feel like a reward. Instead, it hit her harder than she imagined. In a 2010 interview with Connecticut Magazine, she admitted that stepping away from acting left her dealing with depression she had not planned for. She said she no longer got a paycheck for the first time since she was fifteen or sixteen years old, and that absence of work, structure, and outside praise took a real toll on how she saw herself.
She also opened up about turning to alcohol during that period. In her words, she was drinking to forget or drinking to feel happy. Eventually she realized that alcohol was not fixing anything underneath. A friend suggested she try a 12-step meeting, and she went. She later said she walked into that meeting and never looked back. At the time of the 2010 interview, she reported having been sober for eleven years.
Staying Close to the Business Without Returning to It
Saint James never fully disappeared from screens after 1989. She picked up occasional guest roles over the following decades, appearing on The Drew Carey Show, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Suits. These were brief returns, not comebacks, and acting stayed a side interest rather than her main focus for the rest of her life.
She also looked back on Kate & Allie with real pride. Speaking to People in 2000, she called the show ahead of its time, describing the setup of two women living together with kids as simply a practical solution to their situation. In a separate reflection, she pushed back on any reading of the show as a statement against marriage, explaining that Kate and Allie never planned their arrangement. It was just the best option available to them, held together by genuine friendship.
A Decision That Still Resonates With Working Parents Today
Looking back, Saint James's choice reflects a tension many working parents recognize: the pull between a thriving career and the desire to be present at home. She got both the family time she wanted and, later, an unexpected personal struggle that came with giving up her professional identity. Her willingness to talk about the depression and alcohol misuse that followed her retirement added honesty to a story that could easily have stayed a simple feel-good narrative about choosing family over fame.
Her history shows a woman who left two hit shows by choice rather than by force, first over a contract dispute on McMillan & Wife, then over family priorities after Kate & Allie. Both decisions came from Saint James taking control of her own path, even when the aftermath turned out to be harder than she expected.
