Eva Marie Saint

"When I first came to Ohio by bus," said Eva Marie Saint, "I cried because everything was so flat."

It was the 1940s and she had just left her home in Upper New York state to attend school at Bowling Green State University. The young Eva Marie arrived at Bowling Green convinced that she was going to become a third grade teacher.

"My mom had always been a teacher, and I thought that that was what I wanted to do," she explained during a recent telephone interview. "But then someone got me to try out for a play and I suddenly realized what I wanted to do."

It was those early, faltering steps on stage in the flat lands of Ohio that eventually led Saint to a successful career on Broadway and then in Hollywood during the 1950s. Much admired for her performances in such films as On the Waterfront and North by Northwest, Saint was able to handle a wide variety of roles, ranging from fragile, working-class idealist to cool, sophisticated spy.

She also worked with such legendary leading men as Marlon Brando and Cary Grant - which is why she returns to the stage May 26 at the Palace Theatre to host a presentation of Grant's romantic melodrama An Affair to Remember. Both the screening and Saint's appearance are being provided by American Movie Classics and Coaxial Communications. An Affair to Remember is the 1957 weepie classic that was recently repopularized by the movie Sleepless in Seattle. Prior to the screening, Saint will lead a discussion of her friend Cary Grant from her "insider's" viewpoint.

"I never saw a flaw in Cary Grant," said Saint. "He was larger than life and a total professional. Midway through North by Northwest I started to feel a little guilty. I thought I should be paying the studio for the chance to work with Cary."

It will be an evening of sweet nostalgia as one legend pays tribute to another. It also, ironically, will continue Saint's association with crying in Ohio.

"It's such a great movie," Saint remarked about An Affair to Remember. "I just hope people have their hankies ready."