Karen Black, the actress best known for her work in films like Easy Rider, Nashville, and Five Easy Pieces, for which she received an Oscar nod, died today after a long battle with cancer. In March it was reported that Black had resorted to crowdfunding in order to pay for her final treatments. She was 74.
That's sad. I recall she was almost a fixture on 70's TV. Or, was that Karen Valentine?
I will show Trilogy of Terror to scare the pants off my nephews.
Trilogy of Terror is what comes to mind when I hear the name Karen Black...
Yes, this one is an awesome made for tv flick.
That's the movie that ruined my childhood.
Beat me to it! That effing movie scared the shit out of 9-year-old me and traumatized my dreams. I absolutely loved it.
In my early gaydom, I snuck into a theatre to see 'Come Back To The Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. If you've never seen it, it's basically a filmed play (with Cher and a young Kathy Bates) and Miss Black was mesmerizing. Rest in peace.
I was just talking about this film with my coworker. She and I were obsessed with it in the 80s (I know, old). It's such a great little movie, and you can't beat Cher AND Kathy Bates.
I know right! I was living in the middle of nowhere, which is no fun when you're a babygay, and hadn't even seen a play nevermind a filmed one.
Oh, yes, indeed. I watched "Come Back To The Five And Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy dean" again last night as a tribute to this marvelous, quirky actress. She was especially admired here in Austin,, Texas where she was a frequent guest at film fests in this town. So loved her. Will so miss her. Tragic that her disease forced her to solicit funding for a fatal disease. Welcome to America.
Such a shame, I had heard she had some financial difficulties despite her years of stardom, that's a sad end and all to common story. And on another note about her work, she was also one of the handful of last living Hitchcock leading women, being the star of "Family Plot", Hitch's last film.
There's a fairly good number left, surprisingly:
Maureen O'Hara, Joan Fontaine, Doris Day, Vera Miles, Shirley MacLaine, Kim Novak, Eva Marie Saint, Tippi Hedren, Julie Andrews, Karin Dor and Barbara Harris.
(Not a leading lady, but I'll toss in Patricia Hitchcock.)
