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.
as Louise
as Self(1 ep)
as (archive footage)
as Karen Black
as Self (archive footage)
as Self – Joanne (archive footage)
as Linda Magnusson (archive footage) (uncredited)
as Justine
as Self (archive footage)
as Karla
as Mrs. Allardyce
as Motel Woman
as Maria
as The Donna
as Mrs. Melnick
as Tarot
as Sean's Colleague
as Ruth Boyd
as May
as Annabelle
as The Neighbor Lady
as Aunt De La Chasse
as Sheila Shivvers
as Self
as Dr. Shneidel
as Storyteller
as Zena
as Mrs. Martin
as Mavis
as Luna
as Barbara
as Renee
as Jennifer(1 ep)
as Kate
as Herself
as Mrs. Leider
as Marianne Brown
as Sandra / Eleanor
as Agrippina
as Grace's Mom
as Molly
as Sara
as Chantelle
as Mrs. Buttleman
as Mother Firefly
as Patricia Sommers(1 ep)
as Aunt Nelly
as Mrs. Melnick
as ("Los Vampirios Moronious" short)
as Dirty Dick
as Bambi LeBleau
as Martha la Magnifica
as Vera Morgan(1 ep)
as Mrs. Springle
as Self
as Karen Black
as Aunt Summer
as Lucy Romano
as Mrs. Mary Happ
as Self
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as Mother
as Aunt Eloise
as Lady Byron / Mother Coer
as Ma
as Self
as Jude
as The Mother
as Social Worker
as Whip Lady
as Crystal Garcia(2 eps)
as Courtney Whitmer
as Jessica Martin
as High Priestess
as Alex
as Miss Gati / Landlady(1 ep)
as Self
as Dr. Gabrielle Kessler
as Rose Van Horn
as Mrs. Tender
as June Rhodes
as Evie Long(1 ep)
as Millicent
as Rose Walsh
as Nehor
as Ro-Kell
as Bertha
as Doreen Jablonsky(1 ep)
as Carla
as Self(1 ep)
as Tarot
as Maria Vandermeer
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as Auntie Lee
as Mrs. Elliot
as Tiffany Powers
as Mrs. Sorrel
as Michelle
as Rula
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as Insp. Wilson
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as Karen Thompson
as Tarot
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as Rita
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as Mrs. Granger
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as Joan Caldwell
as Belle
as Ruth Wilson
as Zelma Putnam
as Mom
as Martha Gelhorn
as Karen Black
as Laura Lawrence
as Ellen Jarvis
as Sea Witch
as Lee Jeffreys(1 ep)
as Linda Magnusson
as Gloria
as Rachel
as Karin
as Karen
as Janus
as Gladys Fitzpatrick
as Dr. Sylvia Dunn(1 ep)
as Helen Jackson(1 ep)
as Kay Mason(1 ep)
as Guest Interviewee(1 ep)
as Sea Witch(1 ep)
as Karen Black (uncredited)
as Self(1 ep)
as Amy
as Emilienne d'Alençon
as Mary Turner
as Valentine Colby
as Investigator Evelyn Carter
as Helen
as Rose Vanda-Buchanan(2 eps)
as Kate
as Paula Herbert
as Ernestina Crawford(2 eps)
as Clarisse Saunders
as Maya
as Anne
as Judy Drinkwater
as Miriam Oliver / Sandy
as Marian Rolf
as Fran
as Susan Winters
as Self - Host(2 eps)
as Connie White
as Faye Greener
as Julie / Millicent Larimore / Therese Larimore / Amelia
as Self(1 ep)
as Nancy Pryor
as Gloria
as Myrtle Wilson
as Daisy
as Bett Harrow
as Elizabeth Lucy
as Laura
as Office Evelyn Carter(1 ep)
as Barbara Sanders(1 ep)
as Mary Jane Reid a.k.a. Monkey
as Sue
as Parm
as Jenny Simms
as Olive
as Rayette Dipesto
as Karen
as Ellen
as Susan Decker(1 ep)
as Monica Garrison(1 ep)
as Self - Guest / Various Characters(1 ep)
as Marcia(3 eps)
as Claudia Stone(1 ep)
as Amy Partlett
as Lorraine Chapman(1 ep)
as Carla(1 ep)
as Jennifer Palmer(1 ep)
as Self(2 eps)
as Self(2 eps)
as Betty
