Marilyn Eastman

Marilyn Eastman was a film producer and actress born in Iowa in 1927. In the mid-1960s, she was the vice-president and creative director of Hardman Associates, Inc., an industrial films production company, which she ran with her partner Karl Hardman. In 1967, Eastman and Hardman teamed up with commercial film makers George Romero, John Russo and Russell Steiner to form Image Ten Productions. They financed George Romero's ambitious indepdendent horror movie Night of the Flesh Eaters, which eventually became known as Night of the Living Dead. Like many of the Image Ten production staff, Eastman's contributions took place in front of the camera as well as behind the camera. She played the part of Helen Cooper, wife of Henry Cooper, who was played by Hardman. She also played the role of one of the zombies in the film and she can be seen eating an insect crawling along a tree. Marilyn also contributed to the makeup effects, prop provisions and script editing.