Karen Black
Acting
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.
Trilogy of Terror
as Julie / Millicent Larimore / Therese Larimore / Amelia
Age 35 (now 74)
Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering
as June Rhodes
Age 57 (now 74)
It's Alive III: Island of the Alive
as Ellen Jarvis
Age 47 (now 74)
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
as Self (archive footage)
Age 75 (now 74)Return to the 5 & Dime: An Interview with Ed Graczyk
as Self – Joanne (archive footage)
Age 75 (now 74)
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
as Linda Magnusson (archive footage) (uncredited)
Age 75 (now 74)
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
as Self (archive footage)
Age 74
BBStory: An American Film Renaissance
as Self
Age 71 (now 74)
No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos
as Self
Age 69 (now 74)
Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula
as Agrippina
Age 65 (now 74)
Jack Nicholson: The Joker Is Wild
as Self
Age 65 (now 74)
Harold Buttleman: Daredevil Stuntman
as Mrs. Buttleman
Age 63 (now 74)
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
as Self
Age 63 (now 74)
Best of Tromadance Film Festival: Volume 1
as ("Los Vampirios Moronious" short)
Age 62 (now 74)
Mythos Hollywood - Das Geheimnis des Erfolgs
as Self
Age 58 (now 74)
Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering
as June Rhodes
Age 57 (now 74)
The Wacky Adventures of Dr. Boris and Nurse Shirley
as Evelyn
Age 55 (now 74)
The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black: Teather Penumbra
Fertile La Toyah Video Magazine #2: The Kinky Issue!
The Legendary Life of Ernest Hemingway
as Martha Gelhorn
Age 48 (now 74)
It's Alive III: Island of the Alive
as Ellen Jarvis
Age 47 (now 74)
Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
as Joanne
Age 43 (now 74)
Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop
as Investigator Evelyn Carter
Age 40 (now 74)
The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver
as Miriam Oliver / Sandy
Age 37 (now 74)
Trilogy of Terror
as Julie / Millicent Larimore / Therese Larimore / Amelia
Age 35 (now 74)
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
as Jennifer
Age 67 (now 74)
Russians in the City of Angels
as Patricia Sommers
Age 63 (now 74)
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
as Vera Morgan
Age 62 (now 74)
The Carol Burnett Show
as Self - Guest / Various Characters
Age 28 (now 74)
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
as Self
Age 23 (now 74)
Gathering insights...
Also Known As
カレン・ブラック, Karen Blanche Ziegler, Карен Блэк, Карен Бланш Циглер, Caran Black, Karen Ziegler, The Hardest Working Woman in Hollywood
IMDB
nm0000947