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.