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Karen Black
Acting
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 r…
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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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BODY OF WORK
Karen Black's Filmography
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Airports
Deadly Dolls: Deepest Cuts
as (archive footage)
No Poster
Bottomless Pit
as Karen Black
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
as Self (archive footage)
No Poster
Return to the 5 & Dime: An Interview with Ed Graczyk
as Self – Joanne (archive footage)
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
as Linda Magnusson (archive footage) (uncredited)
Wild in Blue
as Justine
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
as Self (archive footage)
She Loves Me Not
as Karla
Ooga Booga
as Mrs. Allardyce
Dark Blood
as Motel Woman
No Poster
Maria My Love
as Maria
OowieWanna
as The Donna
Hawk Warrior of the Wheelzone
as Tarot
No Poster
Mommy's Little Monster
as Mrs. Melnick
Letters from the Big Man
as Sean's Colleague
Some Guy Who Kills People
as Ruth Boyd
BBStory: An American Film Renaissance
as Self
Henry Jaglom Finds 'A Safe Place'
as Self
Nothing Special
as May
Double Duty
as Annabelle
Stuck!
as The Neighbor Lady
Repo Chick
as Aunt De La Chasse
Irene in Time
as Sheila Shivvers
No Poster
Meet the Eye
Wamego: Ultimatum
as Self
No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos
as Self
First Time Long Time
as Dr. Shneidel
A Single Woman
as Storyteller
The Blue Tooth Virgin
as Zena
Watercolors
as Mrs. Martin
Contamination
as Mavis
Hollywood Dreams
as Luna
One Long Night
as Barbara
Suffering Man's Charity
as Renee
Read You Like a Book
as Kate
Wanderlust
as Herself
Whitepaddy
as Mrs. Leider
America Brown
as Marianne Brown
Firecracker
as Sandra / Eleanor
Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula
as Agrippina
Crazy for Love
as Grace's Mom
Dr. Rage
as Molly
No Poster
Jack Nicholson: The Joker Is Wild
as Self
Birth of Industry
as Sara
WAMEGO: Making Movies Anywhere
as Self
Paris
as Chantelle
Harold Buttleman: Daredevil Stuntman
as Mrs. Buttleman
House of 1000 Corpses
as Mother Firefly
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
as Self
Curse of the Forty-Niner
as Aunt Nelly
A Light in the Darkness
as Mrs. Melnick
Best of Tromadance Film Festival: Volume 1
as ("Los Vampirios Moronious" short)
Teknolust
as Dirty Dick
Gypsy 83
as Bambi LeBleau
Soulkeeper
as Martha la Magnifica
The Donor
as Mrs. Springle
Plotting 'Family Plot'
as Self
The Independent
as Karen Black
Red Dirt
as Aunt Summer
Fallen Arches
as Lucy Romano
Altman on His Own Terms
as Self
Oliver Twisted
as Mrs. Mary Happ
Easy Rider: Shaking the Cage
as Self
The Underground Comedy Movie
as Mother
Mascara
as Aunt Eloise
Conceiving Ada
as Lady Byron / Mother Coer
No Poster
Karen Black: Actress at Work
as Self
Paradise Cove
as Ma
Charades
as Jude
Bury the Evidence
as The Mother
Angel Blue
as Social Worker
I Woke Up Early the Day I Died
as Whip Lady
Invisible Dad
as Courtney Whitmer
Mythos Hollywood - Das Geheimnis des Erfolgs
as Self
No Poster
Light Speed
as High Priestess
Malaika
as Jessica Martin
Men
as Alex
Who Is Henry Jaglom?
as Self
Stir
as Dr. Gabrielle Kessler
Dogtown
as Rose Van Horn
New York Crossing
as Mrs. Tender
Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering
as June Rhodes
Crimetime
as Millicent
Cries of Silence
as Rose Walsh
No Poster
Every Minute Is Goodbye
The Wacky Adventures of Dr. Boris and Nurse Shirley
as Evelyn
Plan 10 from Outer Space
as Nehor
Dinosaur Valley Girls
as Ro-Kell
Starstruck
as Bertha
The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black: Teather Penumbra
Fertile La Toyah Video Magazine #2: The Kinky Issue!
No Poster
Too Bad About Jack
Bound and Gagged: A Love Story
as Carla
Legend of The Roller Blade Seven
as Tarot
The Trust
as Maria Vandermeer
Return of the Roller Blade Seven
as Tarot
Auntie Lee's Meat Pies
as Auntie Lee
The Double 0 Kid
as Mrs. Elliot
Judgement
as Tiffany Powers
Final Judgement
as Mrs. Sorrel
Tuesday Never Comes
as Michelle
Rubin & Ed
as Rula
The Player
as Karen Black
Dead Girls Don't Tango
as Insp. Wilson
Quiet Fire
as Kim Martino
Evil Spirits
as Ella Purdy
Children of the Night
as Karen Thompson
The Roller Blade Seven
as Tarot
Caged Fear
as Blanche
Blood Money
as Barrett
Ralph S. Mouse
as Miss Kuchenbacker
Mirror Mirror
as Susan Gordon
Club Fed
as Sally Rich
Haunting Fear
as Dr. Julia Harcourt
Night Angel
as Rita
The Children
as Sybil Lullmer
Zapped Again!
as Homeroom Teacher
Twisted Justice
as Mrs. Granger
Overexposed
as Mrs. Trowbridge
Fatal Encounter
as Joan Caldwell
Homer and Eddie
as Belle
Out of the Dark
as Ruth Wilson
Dixie Lanes
as Zelma Putnam
The Invisible Kid
as Mom
The Legendary Life of Ernest Hemingway
as Martha Gelhorn
On the tracks of a filmmaker
as Karen Black
Hostage
as Laura Lawrence
It's Alive III: Island of the Alive
as Ellen Jarvis
The Little Mermaid
as Sea Witch
Invaders from Mars
as Linda Magnusson
Flight of the Spruce Goose
as Gloria
Savage Dawn
as Rachel
Cut and Run
as Karin
Martin's Day
as Karen
Eternal Evil
as Janus
Bad Manners
as Gladys Fitzpatrick
Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?
as Zee
Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
as Joanne
The Last Horror Film
as Karen Black (uncredited)
Miss Right
as Amy
Chanel Solitaire
as Emilienne d'Alençon
The Grass Is Singing
as Mary Turner
Separate Ways
as Valentine Colby
Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop
as Investigator Evelyn Carter
Where the Ladies Go
as Helen
Killer Fish
as Kate
The Last Word
as Paula Herbert
The Squeeze
as Clarisse Saunders
In Praise of Older Women
as Maya
Because He's My Friend
as Anne
Capricorn One
as Judy Drinkwater
The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver
as Miriam Oliver / Sandy
Burnt Offerings
as Marian Rolf
Family Plot
as Fran
Crime and Passion
as Susan Winters
Nashville
as Connie White
The Day of the Locust
as Faye Greener
Trilogy of Terror
as Julie / Millicent Larimore / Therese Larimore / Amelia
Airport 1975
as Nancy Pryor
Law and Disorder
as Gloria
The Great Gatsby
as Myrtle Wilson
Rhinoceros
as Daisy
The Outfit
as Bett Harrow
The Pyx
as Elizabeth Lucy
Little Laura and Big John
as Laura
Portnoy's Complaint
as Mary Jane Reid a.k.a. Monkey
Cisco Pike
as Sue
Born to Win
as Parm
A Gunfight
as Jenny Simms
Drive, He Said
as Olive
Five Easy Pieces
as Rayette Dipesto
Easy Rider
as Karen
Hard Contract
as Ellen
You're a Big Boy Now
as Amy Partlett
The Prime Time
as Betty
No Poster
George Sluizer - Filming beyond Bounderies
as Self
No Poster
Vacationland
as Louise