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