Karen Black is an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She rose to stardom in the 1970s by playing the lead in several independent movies.
With more than 200 acting credits under her belt, Black was nominated for an Academy Award for Five Easy Pieces and won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for both The Great Gatsby and Five Easy Pieces. In 1976, she was also put forward for a Grammy Award for Nashville.
In this post, we are going to inform you about the early years of actress Karen Black, as well as her career, net worth, and a variety of other topics. Therefore, make sure you stick around until the finish of the article.
Quick Facts About Karen Black
| Name | Karen Black |
| D.O.B | July 1, 1939 |
| Died on | August 8, 2013 |
| Gender | Female |
| Profession | Movie Actress |
| Net Worth | $10 Million |
Karen Black’s Life Before Fame
The daughter of Norman Arthur Ziegler, an engineer, and Elsie Mary Ziegler, a prize-winning children’s book author, Black was born Karen Blanche Ziegler on July 1, 1939, in Park Ridge, Illinois. First violinist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and classical musician Arthur Charles Ziegler was her paternal grandfather.
She has a brother and a sister as siblings. Gail Brown, an actress, was Black‘s older sister. Black was of Norwegian, German, and Czech ancestry. The Ziegler family immigrated to the United States from Neukirch (Rottweil), which is located between the Swabian Jura and the Black Forest in Southern Germany.
Black and her brothers were raised in Park Ridge, Wisconsin, at 224 N. Greenwood Avenue, and they frequently visited her uncle’s farm close to Green Bay. She looked for summer stock theatre job openings as a young adolescent because she wanted to pursue a profession as a stage performer.
Black stated, “Starting at the age of 13, I’d run outside during breaks to get work in summer stock. I began by cleaning restrooms, and by the time I was 16 I was a prop girl and singing in the chorus line.
In 1957, Black received his diploma from Maine Township High School East. She attended Northwestern University after high school, where she majored in theatre arts and studied under Alvina Krause. Black attended school for two years before quitting.
Karen Black’s Successful Career Journey
1971–1979
Born to Win (1971) starred George Segal and Robert De Niro. Black played a heroin addict’s girlfriend. She played a prostitute involved in occult killings in The Pyx (1973) alongside Christopher Plummer and Robert Duvall.
In Airport 1975 (1974), she played Nancy Pryor. Black composed and performed two songs for the film’s Grammy-nominated soundtrack. In Alfred Hitchcock‘s penultimate picture, Family Plot, Black played a jewel thief. In September 1976, Black appeared on The Bobby Vinton Show, a U.S.-and-Canadian variety show. Black sang “Lonely Now” other country oldies with Bobby.
1980–1985
Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop was her TV movie. She starred in Killing Heat (1981), based on The Grass Is Singing by Doris Lessing. In 1982, Black starred in Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, directed by Robert Altman. Altman‘s 1982 film adaptation starred Cher and Dennis. Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?
1986–2002
1986’s Invaders from Mars stars Black and her son, Hunter. She co-starred alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Jim Belushi in Homer and Eddie (1989), a comedy about a woman with a brain tumor and a mentally challenged guy (Belushi).
Black had supporting roles in 1990’s The Children, a British version of an Edith Wharton novel, and Zapped Again! Black began appearing in horror films in the 1990s. She played a distraught mother in Mirror, Mirror (1990) and an ancient vampire in Children of the Night (1991).
Black starred with Naomi Watts in Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering in 1996. She co-starred with Tilda Swinton in Conceiving Ada the next year as Lady Byron. In 1998, she starred in I Woke Up Early the Day I Died, Charades, and Waiting for Dr. MacGuffin. Black began filming House of 1000 Corpses in 2000.
2003–2013
Black’s play Missouri Waltz opened in Los Angeles in May 2007; he also starred in it. In 2007, she toured the U.S. narrating Guy Maddin’s Brand Upon the Brain! Black co-starred with Mink Stole, Pleasant Gehman, and Jane Wiedlin in Steve Balderson‘s Stuck! in April 2009.
She appeared in the 2010 thriller Some Guy Who Kills People and the surrealist short Meet the Eye (2009). Black later appears on Cass McCombs’ “Dreams-Come-True-Girl” Death Grips released “Bottomless Pit” in October 2015. Black recites words from a film script created by drummer/co-producer Zach Hill. Early 2013 footage.
What is the Net Worth of Karen Black ?
Karen Black reportedly had a net worth of approximately $10 million, as reported by Celebrity Net Worth.
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Awards and Nominations
American actress Karen Black won multiple awards for her performances in movies and on stage throughout the course of her 50-year cinematic career. She was nominated for Best Actress by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle in 1965 for her work in The Playroom on Broadway.
She later received praise from critics for her role in the 1970 movie Five Easy Pieces, for which she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and won a Golden Globe. Black’s performance as Myrtle Wilson in The Great Gatsby earned her a second Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress (1974).
She received a third Golden Globe nomination the following year for her performance in The Day of the Locust, this time in the category of Best Actress (1975). For her composition and singing on the Nashville (1975) album, in which she starred as a glitzy country singer, Black was also nominated for a Grammy Award.
Karen Black’s Death Cause
Following the release of her final movies in 2010, Black received an ampullary cancer diagnosis and ceased appearing in public. In addition to two additional operations that year, she had a part of her pancreas removed.
On August 8, 2012, she reconnected with Diane Koehnemann Bay, a daughter Black had placed for adoption when she was 19 years old. Black welcomed Diane into her family and was very amenable to the reunion.
Black, 74, passed away from ampullary cancer on August 8, 2013, at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. Juliette Lewis, a fellow Scientologist and actress, offered respect, saying “My mentor and second mother to me was Karen Black.
Everyone she came into contact with was influenced by her.” In response to her passing, Easy Rider co-star Peter Fonda said: “[Karen] was able to play three different characters: goofy, sexy, and crazy. She was able to manipulate all the many aspects of human nature.” In Oceanside, California’s Eternal Hills Memorial Park, Black is buried.
Final Words
Over the course of her 50-year career, Karen Black earned approximately 200 credits in both independent and commercially successful movies. Throughout her career, Black garnered various honors, including two Golden Globe Awards and a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Caused Karen Black’s Demise?
She was 74. Her spouse Stephen Eckelberry claimed that cancer-related difficulties were to blame.
For What is Karen Black Well-known?
She starred as a mother who is evil in Rob Zombie‘s House of 1000 Corpses (2003), solidifying her reputation as a cult horror legend.
What Was Karen Black’s Height?
She stands at 5′ 7″ tall.