
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

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

Deadly Dolls: Deepest Cuts
2018

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
2015
Bottomless Pit
2015

Wild in Blue
2014

Ooga Booga
2013

She Loves Me Not
2013

Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
2013
Maria My Love
2012
Mommy's Little Monster
2012

Hawk Warrior of the Wheelzone
2012

OowieWanna
2012

Dark Blood
2012

Some Guy Who Kills People
2011

Letters from the Big Man
2011

Nothing Special
2010

BBStory: An American Film Renaissance
2010

Henry Jaglom Finds 'A Safe Place'
2010

Stuck!
2009

No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos
2009

Irene in Time
2009

Wamego: Ultimatum
2009

Repo Chick
2009

Double Duty
2009

Contamination
2008

A Single Woman
2008

Watercolors
2008

One Long Night
2007

Suffering Man's Charity
2007

Hollywood Dreams
2007

Wanderlust
2006

Read You Like a Book
2006

Whitepaddy
2006

Firecracker
2005

America Brown
2005

Dr. Rage
2005

Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula
2005

My Suicidal Sweetheart
2005

WAMEGO: Making Movies Anywhere
2004

Jack Nicholson: The Joker Is Wild
2004

House of 1000 Corpses
2003

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
2003

Paris
2003

Harold Buttleman: Daredevil Stuntman
2003

Curse of the Forty-Niner
2002

Teknolust
2002

Best of Tromadance Film Festival: Volume 1
2002

A Light in the Darkness
2002

Gypsy 83
2001

Soulkeeper
2001

Plotting 'Family Plot'
2001

The Donor
2001

Red Dirt
2000

Fallen Arches
2000

The Independent
2000

Oliver Twisted
2000

Altman on His Own Terms
2000

Conceiving Ada
1999

Mascara
1999

The Underground Comedy Movie
1999

Easy Rider: Shaking the Cage
1999

Paradise Cove
1999

Charades
1998

Malaika
1998

I Woke Up Early the Day I Died
1998

Invisible Dad
1998

Bury the Evidence
1998
Light Speed
1998

Mythos Hollywood - Das Geheimnis des Erfolgs
1998

Angel Blue
1998

Men
1997

Stir
1997

Who Is Henry Jaglom?
1997

Menage a Trois
1997

Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering
1996

New York Crossing
1996

Crimetime
1996

Dogtown
1996

Cries of Silence
1996

Dinosaur Valley Girls
1995

Plan 10 from Outer Space
1995

Starstruck
1995

The Wacky Adventures of Dr. Boris and Nurse Shirley
1995

The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black: Teather Penumbra
1994
Too Bad About Jack
1994

Fertile La Toyah Video Magazine #2: The Kinky Issue!
1994

Bound and Gagged: A Love Story
1993

Return of the Roller Blade Seven
1993

Legend of The Roller Blade Seven
1993

The Trust
1993

The Player
1992

Rubin & Ed
1992

Auntie Lee's Meat Pies
1992

Judgement
1992

The Double 0 Kid
1992

Final Judgement
1992

Tuesday Never Comes
1992

Dead Girls Don't Tango
1992

Evil Spirits
1991

Children of the Night
1991

The Roller Blade Seven
1991

Blood Money
1991

Quiet Fire
1991

Caged Fear
1991

Ralph S. Mouse
1991

Haunting Fear
1990

Night Angel
1990

Mirror Mirror
1990

Overexposed
1990

Club Fed
1990

Zapped Again!
1990

Twisted Justice
1990

The Children
1990

Fatal Encounter
1990

Homer and Eddie
1989

Out of the Dark
1988

The Invisible Kid
1988

The Legendary Life of Ernest Hemingway
1988

Dixie Lanes
1988

On the tracks of a filmmaker
1988

It's Alive III: Island of the Alive
1987

Hostage
1987

The Little Mermaid
1987

Invaders from Mars
1986

Flight of the Spruce Goose
1986

Cut and Run
1985

Savage Dawn
1985

Eternal Evil
1985

Martin's Day
1985

Bad Manners
1984

Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?
1983

Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
1982

Miss Right
1982

The Last Horror Film
1982

Separate Ways
1981

The Grass Is Singing
1981

Chanel Solitaire
1981

Where the Ladies Go
1980

Power
1980

Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop
1980

Killer Fish
1979

The Last Word
1979

Mr. Horn
1979

In Praise of Older Women
1978

The Squeeze
1978

Because He's My Friend
1978

The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver
1977

Capricorn One
1977

Family Plot
1976

Burnt Offerings
1976

Crime and Passion
1976

Nashville
1975

The Day of the Locust
1975

Trilogy of Terror
1975

The Great Gatsby
1974

Airport 1975
1974

Law and Disorder
1974

Rhinoceros
1974

Little Laura and Big John
1973

The Outfit
1973

The Pyx
1973

Portnoy's Complaint
1972

Born to Win
1971

A Gunfight
1971

Cisco Pike
1971

Drive, He Said
1971

Five Easy Pieces
1970

Hard Contract
1969

Easy Rider
1969

You're a Big Boy Now
1966
