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.
Recent movies
| # | Name | Character | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015) | Self (archive footage) | 7.9 |
| 2 | Wild in Blue (2014) | Justine | - |
| 3 | Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014) | Linda Magnusson (archive footage) (uncredited) | 8.2 |
| 4 | Ooga Booga (2013) | Mrs. Allardyce | - |
| 5 | Maria My Love (2012) | Maria | - |
| 6 | Some Guy Who Kills People (2011) | Ruth Boyd | 6.2 |
| 7 | Repo Chick (2009) | Aunt De La Chasse | 1 |
| 8 | Suffering Man's Charity (2007) | Renee | 6 |
| 9 | Crazy for Love (2005) | Grace's Mom | - |
| 10 | Firecracker (2005) | Sandra / Eleanor | - |
| 11 | House of 1000 Corpses (2003) | Mother Firefly | 6.3 |
| 12 | Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (2003) | Self | - |
| 13 | Teknolust (2002) | Dirty Dick | - |
| 14 | A Light in the Darkness (2002) | Mrs. Melnick | - |
| 15 | Gypsy 83 (2001) | Bambi LeBleau | 7 |
| 16 | The Independent (2000) | Karen Black | - |
| 17 | Mascara (1999) | Aunt Eloise | - |
| 18 | The Underground Comedy Movie (1999) | Mother | - |
| 19 | Conceiving Ada (1999) | Lady Byron / Mother Coer | - |
| 20 | I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998) | Whip Lady | - |
| 21 | Charades (1998) | Director / Writer | - |
| 22 | Men (1997) | Director / Writer | - |
| 23 | Stir (1997) | Dr. Gabrielle Kessler | - |
| 24 | Crimetime (1996) | Millicent | 4 |
| 25 | Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering (1996) | June Rhodes | 5 |
| 26 | Starstruck (1995) | Bertha | - |
| 27 | Dinosaur Valley Girls (1995) | Ro-Kell | 2 |
| 28 | Plan 10 from Outer Space (1995) | Nehor | 6 |
| 29 | Bound and Gagged: A Love Story (1993) | Carla | - |
| 30 | Legend of The Roller Blade Seven (1993) | Tarot | - |
| 31 | Return of the Roller Blade Seven (1993) | Tarot | - |
| 32 | Auntie Lee's Meat Pies (1992) | Auntie Lee | 6 |
| 33 | The Player (1992) | Karen Black | 6.9 |
| 34 | Rubin & Ed (1992) | Rula | 9 |
| 35 | The Roller Blade Seven (1991) | Tarot | - |
| 36 | Children of the Night (1991) | Karen Thompson | - |
| 37 | Zapped Again! (1990) | Homeroom Teacher | - |
| 38 | Night Angel (1990) | Rita | - |
| 39 | Mirror Mirror (1990) | Susan Gordon | 9 |
| 40 | Homer and Eddie (1989) | Belle | - |
| 41 | The Invisible Kid (1988) | Mom | - |
| 42 | The Little Mermaid (1987) | Sea Witch | - |
| 43 | It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987) | Ellen Jarvis | 8 |
| 44 | Invaders from Mars (1986) | Linda Magnusson | 7.3 |
| 45 | Cut and Run (1985) | Karin | 6 |
| 46 | The Last Horror Film (1982) | Karen Black (uncredited) | 10 |
| 47 | Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) | Joanne | 6 |
| 48 | Killer Fish (1979) | Kate | 3 |
| 49 | The Squeeze (1978) | Clarisse Saunders | - |
| 50 | Capricorn One (1977) | Judy Drinkwater | 6.8 |
| 51 | Crime and Passion (1976) | Susan Winters | - |
| 52 | Burnt Offerings (1976) | Marian Rolf | 8.3 |
| 53 | Family Plot (1976) | Fran | 5.3 |
| 54 | Trilogy of Terror (1975) | Julie / Millicent Larimore / Therese Larimore / Amelia | 7 |
| 55 | Nashville (1975) | Connie White | 4.3 |
| 56 | The Day of the Locust (1975) | Faye Greener | 7 |
| 57 | Airport 1975 (1974) | Nancy Pryor | 6.5 |
| 58 | The Great Gatsby (1974) | Myrtle Wilson | 5.8 |
| 59 | The Outfit (1973) | Bett Harrow | 5 |
| 60 | The Pyx (1973) | Elizabeth Lucy | - |
| 61 | Cisco Pike (1972) | Sue | 6 |
| 62 | Drive, He Said (1971) | Olive | 3 |
| 63 | Born to Win (1971) | Parm | - |
| 64 | Five Easy Pieces (1970) | Rayette Dipesto | 5.3 |
| 65 | Easy Rider (1969) | Karen | 6.7 |
| 66 | You're a Big Boy Now (1966) | Amy Partlett | - |
