Later, she helped connect Steven Spielberg with Roy Scheider for Jaws and assisted client Billy Crystal in securing his role in the 1989 romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally. These were not minor introductions buried in an assistant’s calendar. They helped shape several defining films and careers.
Why her agency career broke new ground
Eastman also worked as an executive at Paramount before building a formidable career as an agent and manager. Her promotion to senior vice president at International Creative Management made her a rare female executive at the top of Hollywood’s representation business.
Across her career, she represented or managed a long list of prominent clients, including:
- Sylvester Stallone
- Barbra Streisand
- Dustin Hoffman
- Richard Gere
- Billy Crystal
- Katherine Heigl
- Katie Couric
- Tony Danza
- Brenda Vaccaro
Eastman retired from agency work in 2010, closing a professional chapter that had covered casting, studio leadership, talent representation and management. Her legacy was not simply that she worked with famous people. Hollywood has never had a shortage of people doing that. She gained authority inside institutions where women had historically been denied it, then used that position to influence which performers reached the screen.
In June, Eastman marked her final birthday with a Zoom celebration attended by former clients and friends including Heigl, Couric, Danza, Crystal, Marla Maples, Cindy Crawford and Dyan Cannon.
What is known about her health and death
Eastman had experienced significant health problems in recent years. Six years before her death, she underwent open-heart surgery and spent about three months recovering at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Her golden retriever, Trooper, became a central part of that recovery. In 2022, Eastman asked author Susan McCauley to tell the story in the children’s book Trooper at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
“I’ve had dogs forever and they’ve all been amazing dogs, but there was something very special about Trooper,” Eastman said in a 2023 interview with Explore Big Sky. “I know for a fact I never would have healed so well and so quickly without the love of this dog.”
Eastman also said Stallone flew her and Trooper to Los Angeles by private jet for the heart operation, which is one way to make hospital transport considerably less ordinary.
A person who had seen Eastman in recent months at the Polo Lounge said her spirits appeared positive despite changes in her health and personal life. The source described news of her death as shocking.
Did Eastman use California’s aid-in-dying law?
There is no verified evidence that Eastman used medical aid in dying. An anonymous source told Page Six that she had discussed California’s End of Life Option Act and appeared to be seriously considering it. The source recalled that she mentioned the subject casually, “like a cup of coffee.”
Neither her family spokesperson nor other reporting confirmed that she requested, received or took aid-in-dying medication. The Hollywood Reporter and TheWrap reported only that she died in her sleep at home. Discussion of a law is not proof that someone used it, however tempting a more dramatic explanation may be.
California’s End of Life Option Act allows qualified, mentally capable adults with a terminal diagnosis to request medication through an attending physician. The state made the law permanent in October 2025. According to the California Department of Public Health, 1,591 people received prescriptions under the act in 2024, and 1,032 died after taking the medication. Of those who died, 94.8% were receiving hospice or palliative care.
Those formal requirements matter. Eastman’s private comments, as described by one unnamed person, do not establish eligibility, participation or cause of death.
Eastman is survived by her former husband, Paul N. Lazarus III, her stepson Robert Lazarus and his wife, Annie. No funeral arrangements or additional family statements had been reported by Friday.
