Andrea Eastman, the casting director for “The Godfather” and former Hollywood agent, died on Wednesday at her home in Santa Barbara. She was 86.
Entering the film industry at a time when it was dominated by men, Eastman became one of Hollywood’s first female “superagents,” rising to senior vice president at International Creative Management and serving as an agent at Creative Management Associates and International Famous Agency.
Eastman started out working in casting, and was instrumental in casting and developing some of the most pivotal films of the “New Hollywood” movement. When Paramount executives were against casting then-unknown actor Al Pacino in “The Godfather,” Eastman worked alongside Francis Ford Coppola to secure Pacino for the role of Michael Corleone while also negotiating to secure James Caan for the role of Sonny. Her contributions to this film are now recognized in the archives of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
She also oversaw the casting of “Love Story,” starring Ali MacGraw, Ryan O’Neal and newcomer Tommy Lee Jones, whom she discovered, and of “Goodbye Columbus.” Throughout her career, the agent and manager helped guide the careers of Hollywood stars including Sylvester Stallone, Billy Crystal, Richard Gere, Barbra Streisand, Jamie Lee Curtis, Katherine Heigl, Christopher Reeve and Tony Danza.
In the later years of her life, Eastman settled in Montana and devoted herself to animal advocacy. She established a sanctuary dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating mistreated, abandoned and abused horses and dogs. Partnering with Robert Redford, she also became a key force in a grassroots campaign to pass California’s Proposition 6, which made California the first state in the U.S. to completely outlaw the slaughter of horses for human consumption.
In 2022, Eastman commissioned the children’s book “Trooper at the Beverly Hills Hotel,” which was inspired by her real-life experience of recovering from open-heart surgery at the Beverly Hills Hotel alongside her Golden Retriever, Trooper.
Her work as an animal advocate was depicted in Jill Rappaport’s book, “People We Know, Horses They Love,” while her career as one of Hollywood’s pioneering female agents was portrayed in the biographical miniseries “The Offer.”
Eastman is survived by her former husband, Paul N. Lazarus III; her stepson, Robert Lazarus; and his wife, Annie.
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