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.
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Acted in
Deadly Dolls: Deepest Cuts
2018
Bottomless Pit
2015
as Karen Black
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
2015
as Self (archive footage)
Wild in Blue
2014
as Justine
She Loves Me Not
2013
as Karla
Ooga Booga
2013
as Mrs. Allardyce
Dark Blood
2012
as Motel Woman
Maria My Love
2012
as Maria
OowieWanna
2012
as The Donna
Mommy's Little Monster
2012
as Mrs. Melnick
Hawk Warrior of the Wheelzone
2012
as Tarot
Letters from the Big Man
2011
as Sean's Colleague
Some Guy Who Kills People
2011
as Ruth Boyd
BBStory: An American Film Renaissance
2010
as Self
Henry Jaglom Finds 'A Safe Place'
2010
as Self
Nothing Special
2010
as May
Double Duty
2009
as Annabelle
Stuck!
2009
Repo Chick
2009
as Aunt De La Chasse
Irene in Time
2009
as Sheila Shivvers
Wamego: Ultimatum
2009
as Self
No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos
2009
as Self
A Single Woman
2008
as Storyteller
Watercolors
2008
as Mrs. Martin
Contamination
2008
as Mavis
Hollywood Dreams
2007
as Luna
One Long Night
2007
as Barbara
Ghost Writer
2007
as Renee
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
2007
as Jennifer
Read You Like a Book
2006
as Kate
Wanderlust
2006
as Herself
Whitepaddy
2006
as Mrs. Leider
America Brown
2005
as Marianne Brown
Firecracker
2005
as Sandra / Eleanor
Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula
2005
as Agrippina
Dr. Rage
2005
as Molly
WAMEGO: Making Movies Anywhere
2004
as Self
Paris
2003
as Chantelle
Harold Buttleman: Daredevil Stuntman
2003
as Mrs. Buttleman
House of 1000 Corpses
2003
as Mother Firefly
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
2003
as Self
Curse of the Forty-Niner
2002
as Aunt Nelly
Best of Tromadance Film Festival: Volume 1
2002
as ("Los Vampirios Moronious" short)
Teknolust
2002
as Dirty Dick
A Light in the Darkness
2002
as Mrs. Melnick
Gypsy 83
2001
as Bambi LeBleau
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
2001
as Vera Morgan
The Donor
2001
as Mrs. Springle
Plotting 'Family Plot'
2001
as Self
Soulkeeper
2001
as Martha la Magnifica
The Independent
2000
as Karen Black
Red Dirt
2000
as Aunt Summer
Fallen Arches
2000
as Lucy Romano
Oliver Twisted
2000
as Mrs. Mary Happ
Easy Rider: Shaking the Cage
1999
as Self
The Underground Comedy Movie
1999
as Mother
Mascara
1999
as Aunt Eloise
Conceiving Ada
1999
as Lady Byron / Mother Coer
Paradise Cove
1999
as Ma
Charades
1998
as Jude
Bury the Evidence
1998
as The Mother
Angel Blue
1998
as Social Worker
I Woke Up Early the Day I Died
1998
as Whip Lady
Invisible Dad
1998
as Courtney Whitmer
Malaika
1998
as Jessica Martin
Light Speed
1998
as High Priestess
Mythos Hollywood - Das Geheimnis des Erfolgs
1998
as Self
Men
1997
as Alex
The Hunger
1997
as Miss Gati / Landlady
Who Is Henry Jaglom?
1997
as Self
Stir
1997
as Dr. Gabrielle Kessler
New York Crossing
1996
as Mrs. Tender
Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering
1996
as June Rhodes
Dogtown
1996
as Rose Van Horn
E! True Hollywood Story
1996
Crimetime
1996
as Millicent
Cries of Silence
1996
as Rose Walsh
The Wacky Adventures of Dr. Boris and Nurse Shirley
1995
as Evelyn
Plan 10 from Outer Space
1995
as Nehor
Dinosaur Valley Girls
1995
as Ro-Kell
Starstruck
1995
as Bertha
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
as Carla
Tales of the City
1993
as Self
Moon Over Miami
1993
Legend of The Roller Blade Seven
1993
as Tarot
The Trust
1993
as Maria Vandermeer
Return of the Roller Blade Seven
1993
as Tarot
Auntie Lee's Meat Pies
1992
as Auntie Lee
The Double 0 Kid
1992
as Mrs. Elliot
Judgement
1992
as Tiffany Powers
Final Judgement
1992
as Mrs. Sorrel
Tuesday Never Comes
1992
as Michelle
Rubin & Ed
1992
as Rula
The Player
1992
as Karen Black
Dead Girls Don't Tango
1992
as Insp. Wilson
Quiet Fire
1991
as Kim Martino
Children of the Night
1991
as Karen Thompson
The Roller Blade Seven
1991
as Tarot
Caged Fear
1991
as Blanche
The Killers Edge
1991
as Barrett
Ralph S. Mouse
1991
as Miss Kuchenbacker
Mirror Mirror
1990
as Susan Gordon
Club Fed
1990
as Sally Rich
Haunting Fear
1990
as Dr. Julia Harcourt
Night Angel
1990
as Rita
The Children
1990
as Sybil Lullmer
Zapped Again!
1990
as Homeroom Teacher
Twisted Justice
1990
as Mrs. Granger
Evil Spirits
1990
as Ella Purdy
Overexposed
1990
as Mrs. Trowbridge
Fatal Encounter
1990
as Joan Caldwell
Homer and Eddie
1989
as Belle
Out of the Dark
1988
as Ruth Wilson
Dixie Lanes
1988
as Zelma Putnam
The Invisible Kid
1988
as Mom
The Legendary Life of Ernest Hemingway
1988
as Martha Gelhorn
On the tracks of a filmmaker
1988
as Karen Black
Hostage
1987
as Laura Lawrence
It's Alive III: Island of the Alive
1987
as Ellen Jarvis
The Little Mermaid
1987
as Sea Witch
Invaders from Mars
1986
as Linda Magnusson
Savage Dawn
1986
as Rachel
Flight of the Spruce Goose
1986
as Gloria
Cut and Run
1985
as Karin
Martin's Day
1985
as Karen
Eternal Evil
1985
as Janus
Bad Manners
1984
as Gladys Fitzpatrick
Murder, She Wrote
1984
as Dr. Sylvia Dunn
Miami Vice
1984
E/R
1984
The Hitchhiker
1983
as Kay Mason
Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?
1983
as Zee
Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
1982
as Joanne
Faerie Tale Theatre
1982
as Guest Interviewee
Faerie Tale Theatre
1982
as Sea Witch
The Last Horror Film
1982
as Karen Black (uncredited)
Miss Right
1982
as Amy
The Grass Is Singing
1981
as Mary Turner
Separate Ways
1981
as Valentine Colby
Chanel Solitaire
1981
as Emilienne d'Alençon
Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop
1980
as Investigator Evelyn Carter
Where the Ladies Go
1980
as Helen
Power
1980
as Rose Vanda-Buchanan
Killer Fish
1979
as Kate
The Last Word
1979
as Paula Herbert
Mr. Horn
1979
as Ernestina Crawford
The Squeeze
1978
as Clarisse Saunders
In Praise of Older Women
1978
as Maya
Because He's My Friend
1978
as Anne
Capricorn One
1977
as Judy Drinkwater
The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver
1977
as Miriam Oliver / Sandy
Burnt Offerings
1976
as Marian Rolf
Family Plot
1976
as Fran
Crime and Passion
1976
as Susan Winters
Nashville
1975
as Connie White
The Day of the Locust
1975
as Faye Greener
Trilogy of Terror
1975
as Julie / Millicent Larimore / Therese Larimore / Amelia
Airport 1975
1974
as Nancy Pryor
Law and Disorder
1974
as Gloria
The Great Gatsby
1974
as Myrtle Wilson
Rhinoceros
1974
as Daisy
The Outfit
1973
as Bett Harrow
The Pyx
1973
as Elizabeth Lucy
Little Laura and Big John
1973
as Laura
Police Story
1973
Ghost Story
1972
as Barbara Sanders
Portnoy's Complaint
1972
as Mary Jane Reid a.k.a. Monkey
Cisco Pike
1972
as Sue
Born to Win
1971
as Parm
A Gunfight
1971
as Jenny Simms
Drive, He Said
1971
as Olive
Five Easy Pieces
1970
as Rayette Dipesto
Easy Rider
1969
as Karen
Hard Contract
1969
as Ellen
Adam-12
1968
as Susan Decker
The Name of the Game
1968
as Monica Garrison
Mannix
1967
The Carol Burnett Show
1967
as Self - Guest / Various Characters
Judd for the Defense
1967
The Invaders
1967
as Claudia Stone
You're a Big Boy Now
1966
as Amy Partlett
The F.B.I.
1965
as Lorraine Chapman
The Big Valley
1965
as Carla
Run for Your Life
1965
as Jennifer Palmer
The Prime Time
1960
as Betty