Susan Saint James built her career through decades of presence on television screens, with roles like the quick-witted wife in ‘McMillan & Wife’ and later as one half of the mother-daughter duo in ‘Kate & Allie’. Off-screen, she built a full life as a mother of five. The Emmy-winning actress passed away on October 26, 2026, at age 80 after a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, as People reported. In the days that followed, her family remembered her not only for her career but for the way she raised her children. They described her as someone “generous with her time and energy, which she valued more than money, and instinctively drawn to whoever needed lifting up.” They added, “She taught her children to pause, be kind and look out for other people.” Those values shaped the lives of Sunshine, Harmony, Charlie, Willie, and Teddy, the five children she welcomed across two marriages.
Sunshine and Harmony: The first chapter of Susan Saint James’s motherhood
Saint James became a mother for the first time in 1972 when she and her second husband, makeup artist Thomas Lucas, welcomed daughter Sunshine. Two years later, their son Harmony arrived. Looking back on the names in a 1991 interview with The Baltimore Sun, she explained, “In the ’70s, I named my kids after concepts.” Both children largely stayed out of the public eye as adults. Sunshine made a few red-carpet appearances with her mother as a child and later joined her at a 2005 screening, but has otherwise kept a private life. Harmony was drawn to music early, as she revealed in a 1984 Letterman interview, and went on to work behind the scenes as a music supervisor and content licensing specialist for film and television, as InStyle reported. When the family moved to Connecticut in the 1980s, Saint James told David Letterman on The Late Show with David Letterman that she offered the children the chance to choose more traditional names. They declined. Of their new surroundings, she simply said, “For my kids, it’s great. They walk to school. It’s real [normal] life.”
Charlie Ebersol: Following the family path
Saint James welcomed son Charlie with her third husband, television executive Dick Ebersol, on December 30, 1982. He grew up around the business and later became a television producer himself. “If your father is a mechanic, you learn cars. If your father is a conductor, you learn music. With me, I would go to the Olympics and work in TV from a very young age,” he once explained in a 2013 interview with Sports Business Journal. In 2004, Charlie was aboard the private plane that crashed in Colorado with his father and younger brother Teddy. He managed to pull his father to safety; Teddy did not survive. The loss stayed with him. “Every time you close your eyes in the day, every time you start your car, every time you get out of bed…it’s still there,” he said two years later on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’. Charlie went on to marry Melody McCloskey and has two children of his own. He has also been linked over the years to high-profile relationships, including with Britney Spears, Sophia Bush, and Maria Sharapova.
Willie and the quiet middle ground
Willie Ebersol, born in 1986, has maintained a lower public profile than his older brother while still working in the industry as a producer and director, according to his IMDb profile. Like Charlie, he grew up in Connecticut and occasionally appeared at family events, including a 2006 Tribeca Film Festival screening with his parents and brother. Beyond those moments, he has chosen a private path, focusing on his work rather than the spotlight that once surrounded his mother’s career.
Teddy: The youngest and the deepest loss of Susan Saint James
Edward “Teddy” Ebersol was born on June 10, 1990, the youngest of the five. He loved sports, video games, and reading. On November 28, 2004, the plane carrying him, his father, and Charlie crashed shortly after takeoff in Colorado. Teddy was 14. Weeks later, Saint James appeared on Today to thank the public for their support. “It’s really important to say thank you because we’ve been reached by all these people,” she said. She also shared that when the older children were away, Teddy had become her “best friend in the whole wide world.” Her family later noted that even in the deepest grief, she put others first, delivering his eulogy in the form of personal notes meant to help her remaining children and husband heal. Through all five children, Saint James left a clear imprint of kindness and resilience. The public knew her from sitcoms and police dramas. Those closest to her knew a mother who measured success by the care she gave and the example she set.