I guess. Except that I don’t think of “Night of the Living Dead” as iconic except that it transited the genre of ‘zombie’ out of the mystical voodoo realm into a more widespread venue - chemical, alien, other unnatural causes.
I certainly don’t think that the acting in NOLD was of the caliber that couldn’t easily be replaced, either.
The original BW featuring Chilly Billy Cardille was pretty hinky but was iconic of the genre