Karen Black

DOB: 1939-07-01

DOD: 2013-08-08

Karen Blanche Black (née Ziegler; July 1, 1939 – August 8, 2013) was an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She rose to prominence for her work in various studio and independent films in the 1970s, frequently portraying eccentric and offbeat characters, and established herself as a figure of New Hollywood. Her career spanned over 50 years and includes nearly 200 credits in both independent and mainstream films. Black received numerous accolades throughout her career, including two Golden Globe Awards, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. A native of suburban Chicago, Black studied theater at Northwestern University before dropping out and relocating to New York City. She performed on Broadway in 1965 before making her major film debut in Francis Ford Coppola's You're a Big Boy Now (1966). Black relocated to California and was cast as an acid-tripping prostitute in Dennis Hopper's road film Easy Rider (1969). That led to a lead in the drama Five Easy Pieces (1970), in which she played a hopeless beautician, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. Black made her first major commercial picture with the disaster film Airport 1975 (1974), and her subsequent appearance as Myrtle Wilson in The Great Gatsby (1974) won her a second Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. Black starred as a glamorous country singer in Robert Altman's ensemble musical drama Nashville (1975), also writing and performing two songs for the soundtrack, which won a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack. Her portrayal of an aspiring actress in John Schlesinger's drama The Day of the Locust (also 1975) earned her a third Golden Globe nomination, this time for Best Actress. She subsequently took on four roles in Dan Curtis' anthology horror film Trilogy of Terror (1975), followed by Curtis's supernatural horror feature, Burnt Offerings (1976). The same year, she starred as a con artist in Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot. In 1982, Black starred as a trans woman in the Robert Altman-directed Broadway debut of Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, a role she also reprised in Altman's subsequent film adaptation. She next starred in the comedy Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? (1983), followed by Tobe Hooper's remake of Invaders from Mars (1986). For much of the late 1980s and 1990s, Black starred in a variety of arthouse, independent, and horror films, as well as writing her own screenplays. She had a leading role as a villainous mother in Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses (2003), which cemented her status as a cult horror icon. She continued to star in low-profile films throughout the early 2000s, as well as working as a playwright before her death from ampullary cancer in 2013. Description above from the Wikipedia article Karen Black, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia. ​

Starred In

1975
Movie

Nashville

1997
Movie

Men

1998
Movie

Malaika

1992
Movie

The Player

1974
Movie

The Great Gatsby

1971
Movie

Born to Win

1988
Movie

Out of the Dark

1976
Movie

Family Plot

1988
Movie

The Invisible Kid

1985
Movie

Cut and Run

1986
Movie

Invaders from Mars

2001
Movie

Gypsy 83

1970
Movie

Five Easy Pieces

1973
Movie

The Outfit

1974
Movie

Airport 1975

2007
Movie

One Long Night

1976
Movie

Burnt Offerings

1991
Movie

Evil Spirits

1979
Movie

Killer Fish

1992
Movie

Rubin & Ed

1990
Movie

Haunting Fear

1990
Movie

Night Angel

1998
Movie

Invisible Dad

2001
Movie

Soulkeeper

1975
Movie

Trilogy of Terror

1996
Movie

New York Crossing

2005
Movie

Firecracker

1989
Movie

Homer and Eddie

1969
Movie

Hard Contract

2009
Movie

Stuck!

1998
Movie

Bury the Evidence

1971
Movie

A Gunfight

1990
Movie

Mirror Mirror

2006
Movie

Wanderlust

1981
Movie

Separate Ways

1971
Movie

Cisco Pike

1973
Movie

The Pyx

1971
Movie

Drive, He Said

1985
Movie

Savage Dawn

1999
Movie

Conceiving Ada

2000
Movie

Red Dirt

1985
Movie

Eternal Evil

2012
Movie

Maria My Love

2005
Movie

America Brown

1999
Movie

Mascara

1996
Movie

Crimetime

2009
Movie

Irene in Time

1997
Movie

Dogtown

1976
Movie

Crime and Passion

1974
Movie

Law and Disorder

1969
Movie

Easy Rider

1998
Movie

Light Speed

1985
Movie

Martin's Day

2013
Movie

Ooga Booga

1998
Movie

Charades

1990
Movie

Overexposed

1991
Movie

Blood Money

1991
Movie

Quiet Fire

1990
Movie

Club Fed

1978
Movie

The Squeeze

2010
Movie

Nothing Special

2013
Movie

She Loves Me Not

1992
Movie

Judgement

1987
Movie

Hostage

1974
Movie

Rhinoceros

1960
Movie

The Prime Time

2005
Movie

Dr. Rage

1991
Movie

Caged Fear

1982
Movie

Miss Right

1984
Movie

Bad Manners

2007
Movie

Hollywood Dreams

1990
Movie

Zapped Again!

2009
Movie

Wamego: Ultimatum

2008
Movie

Contamination

2014
Movie

Wild in Blue

1990
Movie

Twisted Justice

2000
Movie

Fallen Arches

1988
Movie

Dixie Lanes

1980
Movie

Power

2015
Movie

Bottomless Pit

1998
Movie

Angel Blue

2012
Movie

OowieWanna

2003
Movie

Paris

1996
Movie

Cries of Silence

1977
Movie

Capricorn One

1992
Movie

The Double 0 Kid

1981
Movie

Chanel Solitaire

1979
Movie

The Last Word

1990
Movie

The Children

1979
Movie

Mr. Horn

2000
Movie

The Independent

1992
Movie

Final Judgement

1997
Movie

Stir

1995
Movie

Starstruck

2009
Movie

Repo Chick

2009
Movie

Double Duty

2002
Movie

Teknolust

1999
Movie

Paradise Cove

1987
Movie

The Little Mermaid

1994
Movie

Too Bad About Jack

2000
Movie

Oliver Twisted

2008
Movie

A Single Woman

1990
Movie

Fatal Encounter

2001
Movie

The Donor

1993
Movie

The Trust

2008
Movie

Watercolors

1991
Movie

Ralph S. Mouse

2006
Movie

Whitepaddy

2012
Movie

Dark Blood

1997
Movie

Menage a Trois

1965
Tv

The F.B.I.

1984
Tv

Miami Vice

1967
Tv

Mannix

1968
Tv

Adam-12

1973
Tv

Police Story

1984
Tv

E/R

1997
Tv

The Hunger

1972
Tv

Ghost Story

1967
Tv

The Invaders