Acting
Karen Black
Biography
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.
Movies with Karen Black
The Player
1992
Easy Rider
1969
House of 1000 Corpses
2003
Airport 1975
1974
Nashville
1975
Capricorn One
1977
The Great Gatsby
1974
Five Easy Pieces
1970
Killer Fish
1979
Night Angel
1990
Teknolust
2002
Wild in Blue
2014
Family Plot
1976
Ooga Booga
2013
The Independent
2000
Crazy for Love
2005
Burnt Offerings
1976
Light Speed
1998
Airports
2025
Trilogy of Terror
1975
One Long Night
2007
Dogtown
1997
Martin's Day
1985
Invaders from Mars
1986
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
2014
Men
1997
Out of the Dark
1988
Paris
2003
The Outfit
1973
Eternal Evil
1985
The Day of the Locust
1975
Judgement
1992
Quiet Fire
1991
Fallen Arches
2000
Who Is Henry Jaglom?
1997
Mirror Mirror
1990
Cut and Run
1985
Evil Spirits
1991
Repo Chick
2009
A Single Woman
2008
Red Dirt
2000
Bad Manners
1984
Savage Dawn
1985
Hostage
1987
In Praise of Older Women
1978
The Last Horror Film
1982
Born to Win
1971
Final Judgement
1992
Homer and Eddie
1989
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
2003
Maria My Love
2012
She Loves Me Not
2013
Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering
1996
Chanel Solitaire
1981
Whitepaddy
2006
The Double 0 Kid
1992
The Children
1990
Dark Blood
2012
Cisco Pike
1972
America Brown
2005
Gypsy 83
2001
A Gunfight
1971
Separate Ways
1981
Altman on His Own Terms
2000
Mascara
1999
Hard Contract
1969
Haunting Fear
1990
The Pyx
1973
Blood Money
1991
The Last Word
1979
Drive, He Said
1971
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
2015
I Woke Up Early the Day I Died
1998
Auntie Lee's Meat Pies
1992
Ralph S. Mouse
1991
Law and Disorder
1974
Suffering Man's Charity
2007
Nothing Special
2010
The Squeeze
1978
The Donor
2001
It's Alive III: Island of the Alive
1987
Club Fed
1990
Plotting 'Family Plot'
2001
Mythos Hollywood - Das Geheimnis des Erfolgs
1998
Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
1982
You're a Big Boy Now
1966
Wamego: Ultimatum
2009
Rubin & Ed
1992
The Invisible Kid
1988
Hollywood Dreams
2007
Mr. Horn
1979
Twisted Justice
1990
Double Duty
2009
Children of the Night
1991
Zapped Again!
1990
Conceiving Ada
1999
Caged Fear
1991
Invisible Dad
1998
Irene in Time
2009
The Little Mermaid
1987
Crimetime
1996
Bound and Gagged: A Love Story
1993
The Legendary Life of Ernest Hemingway
1988
Karen Black: Actress at Work
1999
Dixie Lanes
1988
No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos
2009
Jack Nicholson: The Joker Is Wild
2004
Dr. Rage
2005
Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula
2005
Miss Right
1982
George Sluizer - Filming beyond Bounderies
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
2013
Dead Girls Don't Tango
1992
Angel Blue
1998
Wanderlust
2006
Crime and Passion
1976
Curse of the Forty-Niner
2002
Rhinoceros
1974
Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop
1980
Soulkeeper
2001
The Roller Blade Seven
1991
The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver
1977
Easy Rider: Shaking the Cage
1999
Fatal Encounter
1990
Dinosaur Valley Girls
1995
Fertile La Toyah Video Magazine #2: The Kinky Issue!
1994
BBStory: An American Film Renaissance
2010
Some Guy Who Kills People
2011
Where the Ladies Go
1980
Bury the Evidence
1998
Firecracker
2005
Plan 10 from Outer Space
1995
Paradise Cove
1999
Read You Like a Book
2006
Too Bad About Jack
1994
The Prime Time
1960
Portnoy's Complaint
1972
Stir
1997
The Grass Is Singing
1981
Return of the Roller Blade Seven
1993
Tuesday Never Comes
1992
Cries of Silence
1996
A Light in the Darkness
2002
The Trust
1993
Flight of the Spruce Goose
1986
Stuck!
2009
Charades
1998
On the tracks of a filmmaker
1988
The Underground Comedy Movie
1999
Watercolors
2008
Legend of The Roller Blade Seven
1993
Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?
1983
Overexposed
1990
Return to the 5 & Dime: An Interview with Ed Graczyk
2014
Mommy's Little Monster
2012
Malaika
1998
Because He's My Friend
1978
OowieWanna
2012
New York Crossing
1996
Little Laura and Big John
1973
Harold Buttleman: Daredevil Stuntman
2003
First Time Long Time
2009
The Wacky Adventures of Dr. Boris and Nurse Shirley
1995
Deadly Dolls: Deepest Cuts
2018
The Blue Tooth Virgin
2008
Letters from the Big Man
2011
Oliver Twisted
2000
Best of Tromadance Film Festival: Volume 1
2002
Every Minute Is Goodbye
1996
Contamination
2008
Hawk Warrior of the Wheelzone
2012
Birth of Industry
2004
Bottomless Pit
2015
Starstruck
1995
WAMEGO: Making Movies Anywhere
2004
The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black: Teather Penumbra
1994
Henry Jaglom Finds 'A Safe Place'
2010
Meet the Eye
2009
Vacationland
TV Shows with Karen Black
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
2001
Saturday Night Live
1975
The Mike Douglas Show
1961
Murder, She Wrote
1984
Mannix
1967
Miami Vice
1984
Adam-12
1968
Party of Five
1994
The Invaders
1967
The Hitchhiker
1983
The Big Valley
1965
The F.B.I.
1965
Profiler
1996
Run for Your Life
1965
The Carol Burnett Show
1967
People's Choice Awards
1975
The Name of the Game
1968
The Hunger
1997
Ghost Story
1972
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
2007
Faerie Tale Theatre
1982
Rude Awakening
1998
Police Story
1973
Worlds Beyond
1986
Judd, for the Defense
1967
Russians in the City of Angels
2003
E/R
1984
Tales of the City
1993
The Second Hundred Years
1967
Moon Over Miami
1993
Power
1980
Mr. Horn
1979
E! True Hollywood Story
1996
Science Fiction Film Awards