Legendary casting director on “The Godfather,” longtime ICM agent and manager, Andrea Eastman, passed away at 86 on Wednesday, sources tell Page Six.
A family spokesperson confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, telling the outlet she died in her sleep while at home in Santa Barabra.
Sources tell Page Six that in the months before she died, Eastman had alluded to the California End of Life Option Act, a law that gives mentally capable, terminally ill adults access to aid-in-dying drugs.
“She mentioned it, but it was like a cup of coffee. She said it in such a nonchalant a way, but she was seriously conisidering [medical aid in dying],” a source, who saw her in recent months hanging out at the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel, said.
They added Eastman’s spirit “seemed up,” despite changes in her life. And although, she experienced health challenges in recent years, “it was still shocking to receive a phone call about her death [in the late night hours] Thursday morning.”
A spokesperson did not comment on Eastman’s cause of death.
Other sources, however, confirmed Eastman’s health struggles, including undergoing open heart surgery six years ago that led to a three-month recovery stay at the aforementioned hotel. In 2022, she entrusted author Susan McCauley to document her journey in “Trooper at the Beverly Hills Hotel,” a children’s book about how her beloved golden retriever, Trooper, aided in her recovery.
“I’ve had dogs forever and they’ve all been amazing dogs, but there was something very special about Trooper,” Eastman told Big Sky, Montana indie newspaper, “Explore Big Sky” in 2023. “I know for a fact I never would have healed so well and so quickly without the love of this dog.”
But it was the Blockbuster Age of Hollywood that made her a powerhouse in Tinseltown. She’s credited for discovering “Charlie’s Angels” icon Jaclyn Smith, connecting Steven Spielberg and Roy Scheider for “Jaws,” and helping her client, Billy Crystal, land his role in the 1989 classic, “When Harry Met Sally,” according to THR.
Eastman, who was also an exec at Paramount, managed Sylvester Stallone, Barbra Streisand, Katherine Heigl, Katie Couric, Dustin Hoffman, Brenda Vaccaro, Richard Gere and Tony Danza.
She had her final birthday celebration in June, celebrating on a Zoom party that brought out former clients like Heigl, Couric, Danza, Crystal, Marla Maples, Cindy Crawford and Dyan Cannon.