Highest rated as cast or director
Karen Black's 11 titles from the 1970s have a median Balasaur Score of 65, led by Nashville (82) and Five Easy Pieces (78), against 50 for those from the 1980s.
Biography
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.
Acted in 181
2020s
- 2025
Airports
Movie
2010s
- 2018
Deadly Dolls: Deepest Cuts
(archive footage)
- 2014
Wild in Blue
Justine
- 2013
She Loves Me Not
Karla
- 2012
Dark Blood
Motel Woman
OowieWanna
The Donna
Hawk Warrior of the Wheelzone
Tarot
- 2011
Letters from the Big Man
Sean's Colleague
Some Guy Who Kills People
Ruth Boyd
- 2010
Nothing Special
May
2000s
- 2009
Double Duty
Annabelle
Repo Chick
Aunt De La Chasse
Irene in Time
Sheila Shivvers
First Time Long Time
Dr. Shneidel
- 2008
A Single Woman
Storyteller
The Blue Tooth Virgin
Zena
Watercolors
Mrs. Martin
Contamination
Mavis
- 2007
Hollywood Dreams
Luna
Suffering Man's Charity
Renee
- 2006
Read You Like a Book
Kate
- 2005
America Brown
Marianne Brown
Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula
Agrippina
Dr. Rage
Molly
- 2004
Birth of Industry
Sara
- 2003
Harold Buttleman: Daredevil Stuntman
Mrs. Buttleman
Russians in the City of Angels
Patricia Sommers · 1 episode
- 2002
A Light in the Darkness
Mrs. Melnick
Best of Tromadance Film Festival: Volume 1
("Los Vampirios Moronious" short)
Teknolust
Dirty Dick
- 2001
Soulkeeper
Martha la Magnifica
The Donor
Mrs. Springle
- 2000
The Independent
Karen Black
Red Dirt
Aunt Summer
Fallen Arches
Lucy Romano
Oliver Twisted
Mrs. Mary Happ
1990s
- 1999
The Underground Comedy Movie
Mother
Conceiving Ada
Lady Byron / Mother Coer
Paradise Cove
Ma
- 1998
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
Malaika
Jessica Martin
- 1997
49Men
Alex
Stir
Dr. Gabrielle Kessler
Dogtown
Rose Van Horn
Modern Rhapsody
Movie
- 1996
New York Crossing
Mrs. Tender
E! True Hollywood Story
TV
Crimetime
Millicent
Cries of Silence
Rose Walsh
- 1995
The Wacky Adventures of Dr. Boris and Nurse Shirley
Evelyn
Plan 10 from Outer Space
Nehor
Dinosaur Valley Girls
Ro-Kell
Starstruck
Bertha
- 1994
The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black: Teather Penumbra
Movie
Fertile La Toyah Video Magazine #2: The Kinky Issue!
Movie
- 1993
Bound and Gagged: A Love Story
Carla
Moon Over Miami
TV
Legend of The Roller Blade Seven
Tarot
The Trust
Maria Vandermeer
Return of the Roller Blade Seven
Tarot
- 1992
Tuesday Never Comes
Michelle
Rubin & Ed
Rula
Dead Girls Don't Tango
Insp. Wilson
- 1991
Evil Spirits
Ella Purdy
Children of the Night
Karen Thompson
The Roller Blade Seven
Tarot
Caged Fear
Blanche
Blood Money
Barrett
Ralph S. Mouse
Miss Kuchenbacker
- 1990
Club Fed
Sally Rich
Haunting Fear
Dr. Julia Harcourt
Night Angel
Rita
The Children
Sybil Lullmer
Zapped Again!
Homeroom Teacher
Twisted Justice
Mrs. Granger
Overexposed
Mrs. Trowbridge
Fatal Encounter
Joan Caldwell
1980s
- 1989
Homer and Eddie
Belle
- 1988
Out of the Dark
Ruth Wilson
Dixie Lanes
Zelma Putnam
The Invisible Kid
Mom
The Legendary Life of Ernest Hemingway
Martha Gelhorn
On the tracks of a filmmaker
Karen Black
- 1987
Hostage
Laura Lawrence
The Little Mermaid
Sea Witch
- 1986
Worlds Beyond
Lee Jeffreys · 1 episode
Flight of the Spruce Goose
Gloria
- 1985
- 1984
E/R
TV
- 1983
Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?
Zee
- 1982
Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
Joanne
Miss Right
Amy
- 1981
Chanel Solitaire
Emilienne d'Alençon
The Grass Is Singing
Mary Turner
Separate Ways
Valentine Colby
- 1980
Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop
Investigator Evelyn Carter
Where the Ladies Go
Helen
Power
Rose Vanda-Buchanan · 2 episodes
1970s
- 1979
The Last Word
Paula Herbert
Mr. Horn
Ernestina Crawford · 2 episodes
- 1978
In Praise of Older Women
Maya
Because He's My Friend
Anne
- 1977
The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver
Miriam Oliver / Sandy
- 1976
Crime and Passion
Susan Winters
- 1975
- 1974
- 1973
The Pyx
Elizabeth Lucy
Little Laura and Big John
Laura
- 1972
Cisco Pike
Sue
- 1971
A Gunfight
Jenny Simms
Drive, He Said
Olive
- 1970
1960s
- 1969
Hard Contract
Ellen
- 1968
- 1967
- 1966
- 1965
- 1960
The Prime Time
Betty
Wrote 3
2000s
- 2000
The Invention of Dr. Morel
Screenplay
1990s
- 1998
Charades
Writer
- 1997
Sound 3
1990s
- 1995
Plan 10 from Outer Space
Songs
1970s
- 1975
- 1973
The Pyx
Songs
Produced 1
1990s
- 1998
Charades
Producer
Edited 1
2000s
- 2005
Appearances22
2010s
- 2015
- 2013
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
Self (archive footage)
- 2010
BBStory: An American Film Renaissance
Self
Henry Jaglom Finds 'A Safe Place'
Self
2000s
- 2009
No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos
Self
- 2006
- 2004
- 2003
- 2001
Plotting 'Family Plot'
Self
- 2000
Altman on His Own Terms
Self
1990s
- 1999
Easy Rider: Shaking the Cage
Self
- 1998
Mythos Hollywood - Das Geheimnis des Erfolgs
Self
- 1997
Who Is Henry Jaglom?
Self
- 1993
Tales of the City
Self · 1 episode
1980s
- 1982
1960s
- 1967
- 1962
- 1961
No release date
Science Fiction Film Awards
Self · 1 episode