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Karen Black

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. ​

  • Known ForActing
  • Born1 July 1939 (age 86)
  • Place of BirthPark Ridge, Illinois, USA

Karen Black

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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. ​

  • Known ForActing
  • Born1 July 1939 (age 86)
  • Place of BirthPark Ridge, Illinois, USA
KNOWN FOR
PHOTOS
CREDITS
Poster
Deadly Dolls: Deepest Cuts
star
5.0
2018
Poster
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
star
7.582
2015
Poster
Bottomless Pit
star
-
2015
Poster
Wild in Blue
star
4.225
2014
Poster
Ooga Booga
star
3.444
2013
Poster
She Loves Me Not
star
4.313
2013
Poster
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
star
7.79
2013
Poster
Maria My Love
star
2.0
2012
Poster
Mommy's Little Monster
star
3.5
2012
Poster
Hawk Warrior of the Wheelzone
star
-
2012
Poster
OowieWanna
star
9.8
2012
Poster
Dark Blood
star
5.783
2012
Poster
Some Guy Who Kills People
star
6.023
2011
Poster
Letters from the Big Man
star
7.2
2011
Poster
Nothing Special
star
5.0
2010
Poster
BBStory: An American Film Renaissance
star
-
2010
Poster
Henry Jaglom Finds 'A Safe Place'
star
-
2010
Poster
Stuck!
star
2.8
2009
Poster
No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos
star
5.909
2009
Poster
Irene in Time
star
1.2
2009
Poster
Wamego: Ultimatum
star
-
2009
Poster
Repo Chick
star
3.237
2009
Poster
Double Duty
star
7.0
2009
Poster
Contamination
star
2.0
2008
Poster
A Single Woman
star
7.0
2008
Poster
Watercolors
star
5.688
2008
Poster
One Long Night
star
3.65
2007
Poster
Suffering Man's Charity
star
4.8
2007
Poster
Hollywood Dreams
star
2.571
2007
Poster
Wanderlust
star
5.0
2006
Poster
Read You Like a Book
star
3.9
2006
Poster
Whitepaddy
star
5.0
2006
Poster
Firecracker
star
6.071
2005
Poster
America Brown
star
5.7
2005
Poster
Dr. Rage
star
2.167
2005
Poster
Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula
star
6.14
2005
Poster
My Suicidal Sweetheart
star
5.8
2005
Poster
WAMEGO: Making Movies Anywhere
star
-
2004
Poster
Jack Nicholson: The Joker Is Wild
star
-
2004
Poster
House of 1000 Corpses
star
6.185
2003
Poster
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
star
7.1
2003
Poster
Paris
star
2.0
2003
Poster
Harold Buttleman: Daredevil Stuntman
star
5.0
2003
Poster
Curse of the Forty-Niner
star
4.212
2002
Poster
Teknolust
star
4.3
2002
Poster
Best of Tromadance Film Festival: Volume 1
star
-
2002
Poster
A Light in the Darkness
star
2.0
2002
Poster
Gypsy 83
star
6.6
2001
Poster
Soulkeeper
star
5.038
2001
Poster
Plotting 'Family Plot'
star
6.2
2001
Poster
The Donor
star
2.667
2001
Poster
Red Dirt
star
5.8
2000
Poster
Fallen Arches
star
-
2000
Poster
The Independent
star
5.625
2000
Poster
Oliver Twisted
star
3.0
2000
Poster
Altman on His Own Terms
star
-
2000
Poster
Conceiving Ada
star
4.5
1999
Poster
Mascara
star
3.2
1999
Poster
The Underground Comedy Movie
star
2.469
1999
Poster
Easy Rider: Shaking the Cage
star
7.0
1999
Poster
Paradise Cove
star
6.0
1999
Poster
Charades
star
3.5
1998
Poster
Malaika
star
-
1998
Poster
I Woke Up Early the Day I Died
star
5.1
1998
Poster
Invisible Dad
star
3.444
1998
Poster
Bury the Evidence
star
-
1998
Poster
Light Speed
star
2.0
1998
Poster
Mythos Hollywood - Das Geheimnis des Erfolgs
star
3.0
1998
Poster
Angel Blue
star
4.8
1998
Poster
Men
star
4.3
1997
Poster
Stir
star
3.5
1997
Poster
Who Is Henry Jaglom?
star
6.6
1997
Poster
Menage a Trois
star
-
1997
Poster
Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering
star
4.35
1996
Poster
New York Crossing
star
1.0
1996
Poster
Crimetime
star
4.0
1996
Poster
Dogtown
star
4.333
1996
Poster
Cries of Silence
star
7.5
1996
Poster
Dinosaur Valley Girls
star
4.5
1995
Poster
Plan 10 from Outer Space
star
5.9
1995
Poster
Starstruck
star
2.0
1995
Poster
The Wacky Adventures of Dr. Boris and Nurse Shirley
star
-
1995
Poster
The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black: Teather Penumbra
star
-
1994
Poster
Too Bad About Jack
star
-
1994
Poster
Fertile La Toyah Video Magazine #2: The Kinky Issue!
star
-
1994
Poster
Bound and Gagged: A Love Story
star
6.2
1993
Poster
Return of the Roller Blade Seven
star
4.7
1993
Poster
Legend of The Roller Blade Seven
star
3.667
1993
Poster
The Trust
star
-
1993
Poster
The Player
star
7.206
1992
Poster
Rubin & Ed
star
6.352
1992
Poster
Auntie Lee's Meat Pies
star
4.75
1992
Poster
Judgement
star
3.2
1992
Poster
The Double 0 Kid
star
4.8
1992
Poster
Final Judgement
star
3.7
1992
Poster
Tuesday Never Comes
star
2.0
1992
Poster
Dead Girls Don't Tango
star
1.0
1992
Poster
Evil Spirits
star
3.6
1991
Poster
Children of the Night
star
4.2
1991
Poster
The Roller Blade Seven
star
2.8
1991
Poster
Blood Money
star
5.8
1991
Poster
Quiet Fire
star
4.667
1991
Poster
Caged Fear
star
3.833
1991
Poster
Ralph S. Mouse
star
6.0
1991
Poster
Haunting Fear
star
4.6
1990
Poster
Night Angel
star
4.2
1990
Poster
Mirror Mirror
star
5.1
1990
Poster
Overexposed
star
2.75
1990
Poster
Club Fed
star
5.25
1990
Poster
Zapped Again!
star
4.069
1990
Poster
Twisted Justice
star
4.375
1990
Poster
The Children
star
3.833
1990
Poster
Fatal Encounter
star
-
1990
Poster
Homer and Eddie
star
5.519
1989
Poster
Out of the Dark
star
5.3
1988
Poster
The Invisible Kid
star
4.9
1988
Poster
The Legendary Life of Ernest Hemingway
star
-
1988
Poster
Dixie Lanes
star
3.4
1988
Poster
On the tracks of a filmmaker
star
-
1988
Poster
It's Alive III: Island of the Alive
star
5.382
1987
Poster
Hostage
star
7.0
1987
Poster
The Little Mermaid
star
6.3
1987
Poster
Invaders from Mars
star
5.55
1986
Poster
Flight of the Spruce Goose
star
-
1986
Poster
Cut and Run
star
5.4
1985
Poster
Savage Dawn
star
4.238
1985
Poster
Eternal Evil
star
4.4
1985
Poster
Martin's Day
star
6.2
1985
Poster
Bad Manners
star
5.7
1984
Poster
Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?
star
5.7
1983
Poster
Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
star
6.0
1982
Poster
Miss Right
star
3.0
1982
Poster
The Last Horror Film
star
5.3
1982
Poster
Separate Ways
star
4.5
1981
Poster
The Grass Is Singing
star
4.2
1981
Poster
Chanel Solitaire
star
4.7
1981
Poster
Where the Ladies Go
star
-
1980
Poster
Power
star
2.0
1980
Poster
Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop
star
1.0
1980
Poster
Killer Fish
star
4.623
1979
Poster
The Last Word
star
4.0
1979
Poster
Mr. Horn
star
6.0
1979
Poster
In Praise of Older Women
star
5.2
1978
Poster
The Squeeze
star
5.2
1978
Poster
Because He's My Friend
star
-
1978
Poster
The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver
star
5.8
1977
Poster
Capricorn One
star
6.764
1977
Poster
Family Plot
star
6.75
1976
Poster
Burnt Offerings
star
6.526
1976
Poster
Crime and Passion
star
6.0
1976
Poster
Nashville
star
7.24
1975
Poster
The Day of the Locust
star
6.45
1975
Poster
Trilogy of Terror
star
6.2
1975
Poster
The Great Gatsby
star
6.302
1974
Poster
Airport 1975
star
5.708
1974
Poster
Law and Disorder
star
4.9
1974
Poster
Rhinoceros
star
5.3
1974
Poster
Little Laura and Big John
star
4.0
1973
Poster
The Outfit
star
6.806
1973
Poster
The Pyx
star
5.125
1973
Poster
Portnoy's Complaint
star
4.5
1972
Poster
Born to Win
star
5.3
1971
Poster
A Gunfight
star
5.8
1971
Poster
Cisco Pike
star
5.7
1971
Poster
Drive, He Said
star
6.0
1971
Poster
Five Easy Pieces
star
7.1
1970
Poster
Hard Contract
star
4.7
1969
Poster
Easy Rider
star
7.062
1969
Poster
You're a Big Boy Now
star
6.1
1966
Poster
The Prime Time
star
4.2
1960