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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Karen Black, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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| Organization | Category | Movie | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Globes | Best Supporting Actress | The Great Gatsby | Nominated |
Murder, She Wrote
as Dr. Sylvia Dunn
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 30, 1984
The F.B.I.
as Lorraine Chapman
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 19, 1965
Adam-12
as Susan Decker
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 21, 1968
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
as Vera Morgan
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 30, 2001
Run for Your Life
as Jennifer Palmer
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 13, 1965
The Hitchhiker
as Kay Mason
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Nov 01, 1983
The Big Valley
as Carla
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 15, 1965
The Hunger
as Miss Gati / Landlady
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jul 20, 1997
Ghost Story
as Barbara Sanders
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 15, 1972
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
as Jennifer
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Feb 11, 2007
The Name of the Game
as Monica Garrison
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 20, 1968
Faerie Tale Theatre
as Sea Witch
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 11, 1982
The Invaders
as Claudia Stone
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jan 10, 1967
E/R
Episodes: 3
First Aired: Sep 16, 1984
Saturday Night Live
as Self - Host
Episodes: 2
First Aired: Oct 11, 1975
The Mike Douglas Show
as Self
Episodes: 2
First Aired: Dec 11, 1961
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
as Self
Episodes: 2
First Aired: Oct 01, 1962
Miami Vice
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 16, 1984
E! True Hollywood Story
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Aug 21, 1996
Mannix
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 16, 1967
Moon Over Miami
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 15, 1993
Police Story
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Mar 20, 1973
Judd for the Defense
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 08, 1967
Faerie Tale Theatre
as Guest Interviewee
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 11, 1982
The Carol Burnett Show
as Self - Guest / Various Characters
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 11, 1967
Tales of the City
as Self
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 28, 1993
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