Karen Black

Known for ActingBorn 1939-07-01Died 2013-08-08Park Ridge, Illinois, USA

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.Read more

Movies & web series

Karen Black: Actress at Work

Malaika

The Wacky Adventures of Dr. Boris and Nurse Shirley

Too Bad About Jack

The Trust

OowieWanna

Where the Ladies Go

Altman on His Own Terms

People's Choice Awards

Fatal Encounter

Russians in the City of Angels

E! True Hollywood Story

The Blue Tooth Virgin

WAMEGO: Making Movies Anywhere

Birth of Industry

The Invention of Dr. Morel

Bury the Evidence

Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia

Faerie Tale Theatre

The Legendary Life of Ernest Hemingway

Flight of the Spruce Goose

Because He's My Friend

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

Moon Over Miami

Law & Order: Criminal Intent

Whitepaddy

Tales of the City

The Carol Burnett Show

Murder, She Wrote

Hostage

Judd, for the Defense

Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films

Letters from the Big Man

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!

Miami Vice

Cries of Silence

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood

Ghost Story

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

The Player

Double Duty

Easy Rider: Shaking the Cage

Nashville

Harold Buttleman: Daredevil Stuntman

Fallen Arches

Profiler

Party of Five

Ralph S. Mouse