Marilyn Eastman was born in Iowa and later moved to Pittsburgh where her career with Karl Hardman ("Night" co-star and long-time colleague and companion) took off. She was a regular on several local radio shows that achieved much success, and later she and Karl formed Hardman/Eastman, Inc. They eventually joined forces with The Latent Image, Inc, another Pittsburgh company, which was headed by George A. Romero, to create the phenomenal horror classic Night of the Living Dead (1968), which was filmed in 1967 in and around Pittsburgh, PA and released in October 1968. Eastman not only acted in the film, she worked on make-up, props and contributed to the editing of the screenplay. Marilyn has done many industrial films with Hardman since "Night" and has worked on commercials as well as in theater. She appeared in the Night of the Living Dead: 25th Anniversary (1993) video that chronicled the film's incredible history and success.