Phillip Marshak

Biography

Phillip Marshak was born on July 17, 1934 in the Bronx, New York City, New York. Following service in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, Marshak worked as an electrician for his father, studied acting with Maxine Marx at the Lee Strasberg Theatre in New York, and acted in stage productions of such plays as "Detective Story" and "A Stone for Danny Fisher" by Harold Robbins. Phillip moved with his wife Pamela to Los Angeles, California in the early 1960's. He worked as an assistant for Jerry Lewis and opened Georgie Girl, which was one of the first gay bars in Los Angeles. Moreover, Marshak directed several adult films -- most notably Dracula Sucks (1978)-- as well as the horror movie Cataclysm (1980), which was later used as a segment in the patchwork horror anthology Night Train to Terror (1985). Phillip died on July 27, 2014 at his home in Los Angeles from diabetes, heart disease, and leukemia at age 80. Besides his wife Pamela, Marshak was survived by his daughter Tracy Marshak-Nash, sons Darryl Marshak and Shane Marshak, brother Norman and sister Judith, and grandchildren Charlie, Kailee, Jake, Cody, Holden, and Zoe.