Karen Blanche Black (née Ziegler; July 1, 1939 – August 8, 2013) was an American actress and screenwriter, whose career spanned five decades and included more than 200 film credits.
Black began her acting career in the 1960s on the New York stage and in television before landing her first major film roles in Easy Rider (1969), Five Easy Pieces (1970), and The Great Gatsby (1974); her performances in the latter two earned her Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actress, with Five Easy Pieces also garnering her an Academy Award nomination. Other films she appeared in during the '70s include Airport 1975 (1974); Robert Altman's Nashville (1975); John Schlesinger's The Day of the Locust (1975), which earned her a third Golden Globe nomination; and Alfred Hitchcock's Family Plot (1976).
In 1975 and 1976 respectively, Black appeared in Dan Curtis's cult horror films Trilogy of Terror and Burnt Offerings; this would lead to her starring in a variety of horror films through the 1980s and '90s, as well as writing her own screenplays, before her appearance in Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses (2003) cemented her status as a cult horror icon. Black continued appearing in several low-profile films throughout the early 2000s, as well as working as a playwright, prior to being diagnosed with ampullary cancer in 2010; she succumbed to the disease in August 2013.
Filmography on TV Tropes:
- Easy Rider (1969) as Karen
- Five Easy Pieces (1970) as Rayette Dipesto
- Drive, He Said (1971) as Olive
- A Gunfight (1971) as Jenny Simms
- Portnoy's Complaint (1972) as Mary Jane Reid
- Little Laura And Big John (1973) as Laura
- Rhinoceros (1974) as Daisy
- The Great Gatsby (1974) as Myrtle Wilson
- Airport 1975 (1974) as Nancy Pryor
- Trilogy of Terror (1975) as Julie/Millicent Larimore/Therese Larimore/Amelia
- The Day of the Locust (1975) as Faye Greener
- Nashville (1975) as Connie White
- Family Plot (1976) as Fran
- Burnt Offerings (1976) as Marion Rolf
- Capricorn One (1978) as Judy Drinkwater
- Killer Fish (1979) as Kate Neville
- Cut and Run (1985) as Karin
- It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987) as Ellen Jarvis
- Mirror Mirror (1990) as Susan Gordon
- Zapped Again (1990) as Substitute Teacher
- Rubin and Ed (1991) as Rula
- Children of the Night (1991) as Karen Thompson
- The Player (1992) as Herself
- Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering (1996) as June Rhodes
- The Independent (2000) as Herself
- Soulkeeper (2001) as Magnificent Martha
- House of 1000 Corpses (2003) as Mother Firefly
- Repo Chick (2009) as Aunt de la Chasse
- Some Guy Who Kills People (2011) as Ruth Boyd
- The F.B.I. (1 episode, 1967) as Lorraine Chapman
- The Big Valley (1 episode, 1967) as Clara
- The Invaders (1 episode, 1967) as Claudia Stone
- Mannix (1 episde, 1968) as Elaine Tate
- Adam-12 (1 episode, 1968) as Susan Decker
- Saturday Night Live (2 episodes, 1976–81) as Herself (Host)
- Faerie Tale Theatre (2 episodes, 1985–87) as Sea Witch/Interviewee
- Murder, She Wrote (1 episode, 1986) as Dr. Sylvia Dunn
- Miami Vice (1 episode, 1989) as Helen Jackson
- In the Heat of the Night (1 episode, 1993) as Carla Ray
- Profiler (1 episode, 1998) as Evie Long
- Party of Five (1 episode, 1998) as Doreen Jablonsky
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent (1 episode, 2003) as Vera Morgan
- Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (1 episode, 2010) as Jennifer
