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.
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Filmography
all 196
Movies 170
TV Shows 26
self 24
Writer 4
Deadly Dolls: Deepest Cuts (2018)
Bottomless Pit (2015)
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015)
Wild in Blue (2014)
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia (2013)
She Loves Me Not (2013)
Ooga Booga (2013)
Dark Blood (2012)
Maria My Love (2012)
OowieWanna (2012)
Mommy's Little Monster (2012)
Hawk Warrior of the Wheelzone (2012)
Letters from the Big Man (2011)
Some Guy Who Kills People (2011)
Soul Searching in 'Five Easy Pieces' (2010)
Henry Jaglom Finds 'A Safe Place' (2010)
BBStory: An American Film Renaissance (2010)
Nothing Special (2010)
Double Duty (2009)
Stuck! (2009)
Repo Chick (2009)
Irene in Time (2009)
Wamego: Ultimatum (2009)
No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos (2009)
A Single Woman (2008)
Watercolors (2008)
Contamination (2008)
Wamego Strikes Back (2007)
Hollywood Dreams (2007)
One Long Night (2007)
Ghost Writer (2007)
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (2007)
Read You Like a Book (2006)
Wanderlust (2006)
Whitepaddy (2006)
America Brown (2005)
Firecracker (2005)
Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula (2005)
Dr. Rage (2005)
WAMEGO: Making Movies Anywhere (2004)
Paris (2003)
Harold Buttleman: Daredevil Stuntman (2003)
House of 1000 Corpses (2003)
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (2003)
Curse of the Forty-Niner (2002)
Best of Tromadance Film Festival: Volume 1 (2002)
Teknolust (2002)
A Light in the Darkness (2002)
Gypsy 83 (2001)
Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001)
The Donor (2001)
Plotting 'Family Plot' (2001)
Soulkeeper (2001)
The Independent (2000)
Red Dirt (2000)
The Invention of Dr. Morel (2000)
Fallen Arches (2000)
Oliver Twisted (2000)
Easy Rider: Shaking the Cage (1999)
The Underground Comedy Movie (1999)
Mascara (1999)
Conceiving Ada (1999)
Paradise Cove (1999)
Charades (1998)
Bury the Evidence (1998)
Angel Blue (1998)
I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998)
Invisible Dad (1998)
Malaika (1998)
Light Speed (1998)
Mythos Hollywood - Das Geheimnis des Erfolgs (1998)
Men (1997)
The Hunger (1997)
Who Is Henry Jaglom? (1997)
Stir (1997)
Modern Rhapsody (1997)
Greater Than a Tiger (1997)
New York Crossing (1996)
Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering (1996)
Dogtown (1996)
E! True Hollywood Story (1996)
Crimetime (1996)
Cries of Silence (1996)
The Wacky Adventures of Dr. Boris and Nurse Shirley (1995)
Plan 10 from Outer Space (1995)
Dinosaur Valley Girls (1995)
Starstruck (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)
Tales of the City (1993)
Moon Over Miami (1993)
Legend of The Roller Blade Seven (1993)
The Trust (1993)
Return of the Roller Blade Seven (1993)
Auntie Lee's Meat Pies (1992)
The Double 0 Kid (1992)
Judgement (1992)
Tuesday Never Comes (1992)
Rubin & Ed (1992)
The Player (1992)
Dead Girls Don't Tango (1992)
Final Judgement (1992)
Quiet Fire (1991)
Children of the Night (1991)
The Roller Blade Seven (1991)
Caged Fear (1991)
The Killers Edge (1991)
Ralph S. Mouse (1991)
Mirror Mirror (1990)
Club Fed (1990)
Haunting Fear (1990)
Night Angel (1990)
The Children (1990)
Zapped Again! (1990)
Twisted Justice (1990)
Evil Spirits (1990)
Overexposed (1990)
Fatal Encounter (1990)
Homer and Eddie (1989)
Out of the Dark (1988)
Dixie Lanes (1988)
The Invisible Kid (1988)
The Legendary Life of Ernest Hemingway (1988)
Hostage (1987)
It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987)
The Little Mermaid (1987)
Invaders from Mars (1986)
Savage Dawn (1986)
Flight of the Spruce Goose (1986)
Cut and Run (1985)
Martin's Day (1985)
Eternal Evil (1985)
Bad Manners (1984)
Murder, She Wrote (1984)
Miami Vice (1984)
E/R (1984)
The Hitchhiker (1983)
Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? (1983)
Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)
Faerie Tale Theatre (1982)
The Last Horror Film (1982)
Miss Right (1982)
The Grass Is Singing (1981)
Separate Ways (1981)
Chanel Solitaire (1981)
Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop (1980)
Where the Ladies Go (1980)
Power (1980)
Killer Fish (1979)
The Last Word (1979)
Mr. Horn (1979)
The Squeeze (1978)
In Praise of Older Women (1978)
Because He's My Friend (1978)
Capricorn One (1977)
The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver (1977)
Burnt Offerings (1976)
Family Plot (1976)
Crime and Passion (1976)
Saturday Night Live (1975)
Nashville (1975)
The Day of the Locust (1975)
Trilogy of Terror (1975)
Airport 1975 (1974)
Law and Disorder (1974)
The Great Gatsby (1974)
Rhinoceros (1974)
The Outfit (1973)
The Pyx (1973)
Little Laura and Big John (1973)
Police Story (1973)
Ghost Story (1972)
Portnoy's Complaint (1972)
Cisco Pike (1972)
Born to Win (1971)
A Gunfight (1971)
Drive, He Said (1971)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Easy Rider (1969)
Hard Contract (1969)
Adam-12 (1968)
The Name of the Game (1968)
Mannix (1967)
The Carol Burnett Show (1967)
Judd for the Defense (1967)
The Invaders (1967)
You're a Big Boy Now (1966)
The F.B.I. (1965)
The Big Valley (1965)
Run for Your Life (1965)
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962)
The Mike Douglas Show (1961)
The Prime Time (1960)
Stars in der Manege (1959)
Ratings
Gallery
Information
Known ForActing
GenderFemale
Birthday1939-07-01
Deathday2013-08-08 (74 years old)
Birth NameKaren Blanche Ziegler
Birth PlacePark Ridge, United States of America
ReligionScientology
RelationshipsStephen Eckelberry (1987-01-01 - 2013-01-01), L. M. Kit Carson (1975-01-01 - 1983-01-01)
ChildrenHunter Carson
SiblingsGail Brown
CitizenshipsUnited States of America
Also Known Asカレン・ブラック, Karen Blanche Ziegler
AwardsSitges Film Festival Best Actress award
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