Karen Black

Early life

Black was born Karen Blanche Ziegler on July 1, 1939, in Park Ridge, Illinois, the third child of Elsie Mary (née Reif), a writer of several prize-winning children's novels, and Norman Arthur Ziegler, an engineer and businessman. Her paternal grandfather was Arthur Charles Ziegler, a classical musician and first violinist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She had a brother and a sister, Gail Brown. Black was of German, Czech, and Norwegian descent. The Zieglers came to the United States from Neukirch, Württemberg, Germany.

Black and her siblings were raised at 224 N. Greenwood Ave. in Park Ridge, and often spent time on her uncle's farm near Green Bay, Wisconsin. As a young teenager, she aspired to have a career as a stage actress, seeking out summer stock theater job opportunities. "From the age of 13 I'd rush out during vacations to find work in summer stock," Black recalled. "I started by cleaning toilets and by the time I was 16 I was a prop-girl and in the chorus line singing, and at 17 I got my first real acting, paid job."

Black attended Maine East High School for her freshman year and part of her sophomore year. She resumed her education at Jefferson High School in Lafayette, Indiana and attended Purdue University for one year, then transferred to Northwestern University, where she majored in theatre arts, studying under Alvina Krause. Black completed two years of studies at NU before dropping out. She later reflected on her training unfavorably, stating:

Career

1960–1970: Stage and film beginnings

In 1960, Black moved to New York City to pursue an acting career, residing in a cold water flat in Manhattan. She took odd jobs working as a secretary, a front desk person at a hotel, and at an insurance office, and lived on "thirty dollars a week." Black initially began performing with the Rockefeller Players, a theater troupe in Westwood, New Jersey. She briefly joined at the Actors Studio, but left shortly after enrolling, later commenting: "How can a man who isn't an actor teach you how to act?"

Black made her screen debut with a minor role in the independent film The Prime Time (1960), which she would later deem "the worst film ever made." Disillusioned by this foray into film, Black returned to work in theater. She worked as an understudy in the Broadway production of Take Her, She's Mine in December 1961 under director George Abbott. She made her formal Broadway debut in 1965's The Playroom,

In 1966, she appeared with José Ferrer in a stage production of After the Fall at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, earning an Angel award for best supporting actress. Black returned to film with a leading role in the comedy You're a Big Boy Now (1966), directed by Francis Ford Coppola, portraying the love interest of a young male student. The film earned Black favorable reviews, and the experience prompted her to relocate to Los Angeles.

Her feature film career expanded in 1969, playing the role of an acid-tripping prostitute opposite Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda in the counterculture film Easy Rider; the first choice for the role was Lana Wood, who had turned it down. Black's sequence in the film was cut from 16 hours of footage.

1971–1979: Hollywood breakthrough and heyday

Black had a supporting role as the girlfriend of a heroin addict in Born to Win (1971) opposite George Segal and Robert De Niro, followed by a role in Jack Nicholson's directorial debut, Drive, He Said, as a promiscuous faculty wife; and the Western A Gunfight, opposite Kirk Douglas and Johnny Cash, in which she portrayed a saloon barmaid. Black followed these roles with a part in Cisco Pike (1972) opposite Kris Kristofferson and Gene Hackman, and subsequently played a foul-mouthed fashion model in Portnoy's Complaint (1972). She had a lead role opposite Christopher Plummer in the Canadian-produced horror film The Pyx (1973), playing a prostitute embroiled in a series of occult murders, and later appeared in The Outfit (1973) with Robert Duvall. Black had the titular role of Laura in the crime film Little Laura and Big John (1973), playing a runaway moll of the Ashley gang, a film which "aped" the success of Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Shortly after, she appeared in the comedy Rhinoceros (1974) with Gene Wilder.

Black's first major commercial film was the disaster feature Airport 1975 (1974), in which she played Nancy Pryor, a stewardess forced to fly a plane after a midair collision. She subsequently portrayed an unfaithful wife, Myrtle Wilson, in the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby, a performance that earned her a second Golden Globe Award in the same category. In 1975, she played multiple roles in Dan Curtis' televised anthology film Trilogy of Terror: The segments, all written by Richard Matheson, were named after the women involved in the plot — a plain college professor seemingly seduced by a handsome cad of a student ("Julie"), a pair of sisters who squabble over their father's inheritance ("Millicent and Therese"), and the unknowing purchaser of a cursed Zuni fetish that comes to life and pursues her relentlessly ("Amelia").

Black received her third Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for her role as an aspiring starlet in 1930s Hollywood in John Schlesinger's tragic drama The Day of the Locust (1975). Though the film earned her critical notice, Black recalled the production being profoundly troubled and possibly hindering her career:

That was not a fun experience, making that film. It was just horrible. I wish quite heartily I'd never made it, because I'd have had a much longer career in Hollywood... It was a very troubled production, and I became the scapegoat that everyone blamed. People kept getting sick, getting fired, and it was just a horror, an absolute horror. Seven months. There were all these rumors that people made up…and I wound up being the center of it. Poor [[William Atherton

[William] Atherton]] walked off and didn't do the final scene, because he couldn't take it anymore.

The same year, she starred as a glamorous country singer in Robert Altman's ensemble film Nashville. In addition to acting in the film, Black also wrote and performed two songs for the soundtrack, which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack.

In 1976, Black appeared as a femme fatale jewel thief Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot. The film received mixed reviews, though Roger Ebert commented that Black "does a good job in a role that doesn't give her much to do." She also reunited with director Dan Curtis to star opposite Oliver Reed and Bette Davis in the supernatural horror film Burnt Offerings, playing the wife of a family living in a haunted house. Released in the fall of 1976, Burnt Offerings was deemed in The New York Times as an "outstanding terror movie" with "solid actors." Additionally, she had a lead role in the independent crime comedy Crime and Passion (1976), co-starring with Omar Sharif. Due to scheduling conflicts with Family Plot, Black turned down Valerie Perrine's role in W.C. Fields and Me (1976).

In September 1976, Black traveled to Toronto to be a guest star on the variety program The Bobby Vinton Show, which aired across the United States and Canada. Black sang "Lonely Now", and joined Bobby in a medley of country oldies. She played a dual role in the 1977 made-for-television thriller, The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver, followed by a minor role in Capricorn One (1978) opposite Elliott Gould. In 1979, Black appeared in the erotic drama In Praise of Older Women, which she regretted because she thought its title aged her.

1980–1985: Career comedown

In 1980, Black starred in a made-for-TV movie Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop. She subsequently starred in the drama Killing Heat (1981), based on Doris Lessing's 1950 novel The Grass Is Singing, which focused on race relations in South Africa in the 1960s; in the film, Black portrayed an urban woman who relocates to a rural farm with her husband. She also appeared as Émilienne d'Alençon in the French film Chanel Solitaire (1981), a biographical feature detailing the early life of Coco Chanel.

In 1982, Black starred opposite Cher and Sandy Dennis in a Robert Altman-directed Broadway production of Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. While the Broadway production garnered Black some unfavorable reviews, Gary Arnold of The Washington Post praised Black's performance in the film, writing that "watching her in the movie, you can understand that what she's doing as Joanna [sic] might depend on the intimacy of the camera to be both witty and credible."

Black next starred in the Henry Jaglom-directed comedy Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? (1983) playing a divorcee who becomes involved with a bachelor, followed by a lead in the teen-themed black comedy Bad Manners (1984). She also appeared in television during this period, with a guest-starring role as Sheila Sheinfeld on E/R between 1984 and 1985. She starred in several feature films in 1985, including the Italian exploitation horror film Cut and Run, directed by Ruggero Deodato; the Canadian supernatural horror film The Blue Man; and the action film Savage Dawn, co-starring with Lance Henriksen as a kidnappee.

1986–2002: Independent films and horror roles

In 1986, Black co-starred with her son, Hunter, in Tobe Hooper's science fiction horror film Invaders from Mars. She had a supporting role as a mutant's mother in Larry Cohen's horror sequel It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987), and in the youth-themed comedy The Invisible Kid (1988). She co-starred with Jim Belushi and Whoopi Goldberg in Homer and Eddie (1989), a comedy about a woman (Goldberg) with a psychologically-impairing brain tumor, and a mentally-challenged man (Belushi). In 1990, Black had a supporting role in The Children (1990), a British adaptation of a novel by Edith Wharton, opposite Ben Kingsley, and in the science fiction comedy Zapped Again!.

Beginning in the 1990s, Black was more frequently cast in horror films. Among them were Mirror, Mirror (1990), in which she played a troubled mother; Gary Graver's low-budget supernatural film Evil Spirits (1990); and Children of the Night (1991), in which she played an ancient vampire. She also had roles in the British comedy Rubin and Ed (1991), the martial arts film The Roller Blade Seven (also 1991), and a cameo in Robert Altman's The Player (1992). Black reprised her role from The Roller Blade Seven in its 1992 and 1993 sequels, and appeared in the direct-to-video comedy The Double 0 Kid (1993), with Corey Haim and Nicole Eggert. Also in 1993, Black had a supporting role in George Sluizer's drama Dark Blood opposite River Phoenix and Judy Davis, a film that remained incomplete and unreleased for two decades after Phoenix died during the production. In 1995, she starred in Plan 10 from Outer Space, a science fiction satire of Mormon theology, directed by Trent Harris.

In 1996, Black appeared as a paranoid mother in small-town Nebraska in Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering, opposite Naomi Watts. and the exploitation comedy Dinosaur Valley Girls. The following year, she co-starred with Tilda Swinton as Lady Byron in the feminist science fiction feature Conceiving Ada (1997), about a contemporary scientist who uses software to make contact with the Victorian pioneer of computer programming Ada Lovelace, daughter of the poet Lord Byron. She also had supporting roles in the independent drama Men, and as a singer in rural Missouri in George Hickenlooper's Dogtown.

She continued to star in independent films in 1998, including the camp comedy I Woke Up Early the Day I Died, the drama Charades, as well as the short film Waiting for Dr. MacGuffin. In 2000, Black began filming Rob Zombie's directorial debut House of 1000 Corpses, in which she portrayed Mother Firefly, the matron of a family of psychotic murderers. Upon its release in 2003, the film received largely unfavorable reviews, though it helped cement Black's status as a cult icon in the horror genre.

2003–2013: Establishment as cult figure; playwriting and later works

As her later career progressed, Black gained a cult following, as alluded to by Family Guy television anchor Tom Tucker in his remark, "Karen Black: what an obscure reference." in the episode Death Is a Bitch (season 2, episode 6). She co-starred with Natasha Lyonne in America Brown (2004), which won the Golden Zenith Award for Best Picture at the Montreal World Film Festival. In 2005, Black received the Best Actress Award at the Fantasporto International Film Festival in Porto, Portugal, for her work in the critically acclaimed Steve Balderson film Firecracker (2005), in which she played two roles, Sandra and Eleanor.

Black launched a career as a playwright in May 2007 with the opening of Missouri Waltz at the Blank Theater in Los Angeles; Black starred in the play as well. She also performed live narrations of Guy Maddin's experimental film Brand Upon the Brain! in 2007, touring the show around the United States.

In 2009, Black worked with director Steve Balderson for Stuck!, a homage to film noir women-in-prison dramas, which co-starred Mink Stole, Pleasant Gehman and Jane Wiedlin. She starred in John Landis' 2010 thriller Some Guy Who Kills People, as well as Aïda Ruilova's surrealist short film Meet the Eye (2009). Later that year, Black appeared on Cass McCombs' song "Dreams-Come-True-Girl" from the album Catacombs.

The experimental hip-hop group Death Grips released a video on YouTube called "Bottomless Pit" in October 2015. The video shows footage of Black reciting lines from a film script written by the group's drummer/co-producer Zach Hill. The footage was shot in early 2013.

Image and acting style

Due to her work in various independent and mainstream films in the 1970s, Black is considered by film historians as a prominent figure of New Hollywood, and was described in 2004 by Howard Feinstein in the LGBT magazine The Advocate as "Hollywood's off-center icon." She was prolific throughout her career, sometimes appearing in as many as seven films a year, and favored working in independent films: "That's my world—independent features," she stated in 2007. "That's how I started. That's what I like. It's playful and comfortable and not stressful, and it's an individual's way of creating. You're not in the studio system imitating other people and yourself. I'm having a good life."

In her later life, Black spoke unfavorably of the formal study of acting, and commented that she found her training both in the university (under Alvina Krause) and at the Actors Studio unhelpful and oppressive. Also a writer, Black likened her acting process to that of writing screenplays or other literature: "Everything that occurs in this zone is imagination-based. In that sense you mock up a life, and then you become the effect of what you've mocked up, so it's cause and effect. So the more you can mock it up so that it seems real to you, the more you can react to the effect. That's what acting is, and that's what writing involves for me, too. That's the simplicity of it. It sounds simple, because it is." Black considered herself a character actress.

Throughout her career, Black was noted for her distinctive eyes, which gave her a slightly "cross-eyed" appearance, although she stated in a 1982 interview that she had not been clinically diagnosed as such. One reviewer once described her as a "lopsided caricature of a pretty face." For much of her career, Black was typecast as an unglamorous or lowly woman of limited intelligence. Beginning in the 1990s, Black began garnering a cult following for her appearances in horror films, though she clarified in 2008 that she had acted only in "about 14" out of her wide-ranging filmography. "When I did Trilogy of Terror, with that [demon] doll, I filled the role very well," she recalled. "It was very real to people, and they just fell in love with it. And that got to be incredibly popular. With my last name being Black ... so it got to be kind of an unconscious thing, [my association with horror movies]. But I'm not interested in blood."

Beliefs

In 1964, Black became a Scientologist, and practiced it for the remainder of her life. She was a vocal proponent of gay rights, commenting in 2007: "I'm for gay rights. Who you are is very sacred, and should be honored—no matter what gender you were born. You shouldn't feel like you have to dodge some sort of conformity." Black also advocated animal rights and was critical of the fur industry, once posing in a Halloween-themed anti-fur advertisement for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Personal life

Black was married four times and called off two engagements. Three of her marriages ended in divorce, the fourth lasted almost 30 years, ending with her death.

She claimed that she became pregnant the first time she had sex, with her boyfriend Charles Black. He was 18; she was 15. They were driven to Alabama where they could marry with parental consent, then moved to Muncie, Indiana, where Charles attended college. Black had a miscarriage, to her relief, but when she returned home, her father barred her from returning, so she drove back to Muncie. The marriage was short-lived, although she retained Charles' surname, under which she would come to be credited throughout her career.

While a student at Northwestern University, Black began dating classmate Robert Benedetti. She got pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter on March 4, 1959. She did not tell her parents about the pregnancy, and put her daughter up for adoption at birth; she reconnected with her in 2012.

Boyfriends during the 1960s included writer Henry Jaglom and actors Peter Kastner and Paul Sorvino. From 1971 to 1972, Black was engaged to music manager Peter Rachtman. Rachtman's daughter Karyn would remain a lifelong friend, delivering a eulogy at Black's memorial service.

On April 17, 1973, Black married actor Robert "Skip" Burton. They appeared together in the first segment of Trilogy of Terror (1975), but had separated by the time it premiered.

In January 1975, Black met screenwriter L. M. Kit Carson in Beverly Hills during an interview for Oui magazine. They married on July 4 of that year when she was pregnant with their son Hunter. Black and Carson separated in 1980 and divorced in 1983. In 1989, when Hunter was 13, he decided to live with his father and stepmother in Dallas; he did not see Black for a decade.

In 1981, Black announced her engagement to Michael Raeburn, who wrote the screenplay for her low-budget star vehicle Killing Heat. The two did not marry. Black's next significant relationship was with Paul Williams, who directed her in 1982's Miss Right.

In August 1983, Black met her fourth husband, film editor Stephen Eckelberry, at a Scientology retreat in Clearwater, Florida. The couple married on September 27, 1987, and adopted a daughter, who acted with her parents in the film Movies Money Murder. Black and Eckelberry remained married until her death in 2013.

Fellow Scientologist actress Lee Purcell was Black's best friend for 43 years. Other close friends included Harriet Schock and Angela Garcia Combs.

Illness and death

In November 2010, Black was diagnosed with ampullary cancer. She had a portion of her pancreas removed and underwent two further operations. She was invited to attend the premiere of the salvaged feature film Dark Blood, in which she had played a small part in the original early 1990s shoot. Black was unable to attend the event, held in the Netherlands in September 2012, due to her illness.

On August 8, 2013, Black died at West Hills Hospital in Los Angeles, Black's funeral was held on August 19 in Oceanside, California, followed by a Hollywood memorial on September 17.

Actress Juliette Lewis paid tribute, saying "Karen Black was my mentor and a second mother to me. She inspired everyone she came in contact with." Peter Fonda, her co-star in Easy Rider, commented upon her death: "[Karen] managed to play kooky, she managed to play sexy, she managed to play crazed. She managed to play all the different ways of human nature."

Filmography

Main article: List of Karen Black performances

Accolades

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Karen Black

Footnotes

References

Sources

• {{cite book| title = Prehistoric Humans in Film and Television: 581 Dramas, Comedies and Documentaries, 1905-2004
• {{cite book| title = The Post-Feminist Hollywood Actress: Biographies and Filmographies of Stars Born After 1939
• {{cite book| title = Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide
• {{cite book| title = The Psychotronic Video Guide To Film
• {{cite book| title = Finding Karen Black: Roots Become Wings

References

1. ''1955 Lens''. Maine Township High School. Park Ridge - Des Plaines Illinois. p. [https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1265/images/1265_b699047-00094 93].
2. ''1955 Nautilus''. Jefferson High School. Lafayette, Indiana. p. [https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1265/images/sid_5712_1955_0155 151].
3. Tauke, M.S.. (May 18, 1973). "Karen Fibbed on Weddings, Investigation Here Reveals". Journal & Courier.
4. Frisbie, Thomas. (June 18, 2008). "Elsie "Peggy" Ziegler: Wrote history-based books for young adults". [[Chicago Sun-Times]].
5. (1977). "Current Biography Yearbook". H. W. Wilson Co..
6. "Karen Black Biography". [[Yahoo! Movies]].
7. (October 23, 2010). "An Evening with Karen Black, Part 1".
8. "Karen Blanche Ziegler: Zellner Family Genealogy". The Zellners of Birmingham, Alabama, USA and associated families.
9. ethnic. (2010-07-15). "Karen Black".
10. Sedam, Lauren. (August 9, 2013). "Former Jeff student, 'Five Easy Pieces' actress Karen Black dies at 74". Journal & Courier.
11. (October 23, 2010). "An Evening with Karen Black, Part 2".
12. (December 28, 1965). "'The Playroom' Will Continue". The Record.
13. "Karen Black". [[Playbill]].
14. Riggs, Thomas. (2000). "Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television". Gale Group.
15. Washburn, Beatrice. (February 9, 1966). "Karen Black Puts on Real Act". The Miami Herald.
16. DeVine, Lawrence. (June 18, 1967). "Karen Black: Good-Fortune Kooky". The Miami Herald Sunday Magazine.
17. "Karen Black".
18. Rocko Jerome. (October 10, 2020). "SpyCon2 presents Lana Wood: Plenty O'Toole talks Bond!".
19. Saporito, Jeff. "How do Bobby's love interests in "Five Easy Pieces" help reveal parts of his character?".
20. Trounson, Rebecca. (August 9, 2013). "Karen Black dies at 74; actress starred in 'Five Easy Pieces' and 'Easy Rider'". [[Los Angeles Times]].
21. "Let's not forget 'Trilogy of Terror' was the scariest TV movie of all time (Who's still frightened by the Zuni warrior doll?)".
22. Knipfel, Jim. (August 10, 2013). "Karen Black's Horror Tour de Force, Trilogy of Terror (1975)".
23. thane62. (2018-05-09). "The Day Of The Locust".
24. Ebert, Roger. (April 12, 1976). "Family Plot". [[Chicago Sun-Times]].
25. (September 30, 1976). "'Burnt Offerings' Is an Outstanding Terror Movie". [[The New York Times]].
26. (September 16, 2010). "Vivid Obsessions: Hitchcock's Technicolor Films".
27. Del Barco, Mandalit. (August 9, 2013). "Karen Black, Strange And Lovely, And Always Game". [[NPR]].
28. Arnold, Gary. (November 19, 1982). "Riding the 'Come Back' Trail 'Jimmy Dean': Altman's New Triumph". [[The Washington Post]].
29. Hinson, Hal. (February 26, 1990). "'Homer and Eddie'". [[The Washington Post]].
30. Van Hoeij, Boyd. (October 22, 2012). "Review: 'Dark Blood'". [[Variety (magazine).
31. Harvey, Dennis. (1996-02-26). "Plan 10 from Outer Space".
32. "Trent Harris reflects on the 30th anniversary of 'Plan 10 from Outer S...".
33. March 11, Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune ·. "Movie review: Utah history gets wacky in 'Plan 10 From Outer Space'".
34. "Reviews: ''Every Minute Is Goodbye''". Tim and Donna Lucas.
35. Holden, Stephen. (February 26, 1999). "'Conceiving Ada': Calling Byron's Daughter, Inventor of a Computer". [[The New York Times]].
36. McCarthy, Todd. (April 20, 1997). "Review: 'Dogtown'". [[Variety (magazine).
37. Gleiberman, Owen. (September 17, 1999). "I Woke Up Early the Day I Died".
38. "Waiting for Dr. MacGuffin". [[British Film Institute]].
39. Kennedy, Michael. (2019-12-25). "The Devil’s Rejects: Why Karen Black Didn’t Return As Mama Firefly".
40. "House of 1000 Corpses". [[Rotten Tomatoes]].
41. Lederhandler, Marty. (August 8, 2013). "Karen Black, Oscar-nominated actress and cult horror film icon, dies at 74". [[KPCC (radio station).
42. link
43. "‘Firecracker’ emits shower of sparks movie review (2005) {{!}} Roger Ebert".
44. "Firecracker: An Interview with Steve Balderson".
45. Barton, Steve. (January 20, 2010). "Some Guy Who Kills People Casting News". [[Dread Central]].
46. (June 16, 2009). "Aïda Ruilova". [[Hammer Museum]].
47. (May 14, 2009). "Dreams Come True Girl feat. Karen Black". [[YouTube]].
48. (October 21, 2015). "Bottomless Pit". Death Grips.
49. Elder, Roger K.. (September 19, 2008). "Karen Black reflects on her life and career". [[Chicago Tribune]].
50. Dyess-Nugent, Phil. (August 8, 2013). "R.I.P. Karen Black". [[The A.V. Club]].
51. Feinstein, Howard. (May 11, 2004). "Bet on black: how Hollywood's off-center icon Karen Black wound up singing on the set of the new gay independent film Gypsy 83". [[The Advocate (LGBT magazine).
52. (2013-08-09). "Karen Black: 1939-2013". HuffPost.
53. (August 9, 2013). "Karen Black: The face of the counterculture". [[The Daily Telegraph.
54. (February 14, 1982). "Karen Black: Hollywood actress returns to tackle Broadway". [[The Anniston Star]].
55. (June 9, 1975). "Show Business: Boom in Black".
56. Guthmann, Edward. (August 30, 2013). "Remembering Karen Black as actress, friend, spouse". SFGate.
57. Johnson, Barry. (October 21, 2007). "Interview: Karen Black, the ultimate indie actor". [[The Oregonian]].
58. Kretzer, Michelle. (October 24, 2013). "PETA Pays Tribute to Scream Queen on Halloween". [[People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
59. Guthmann, Edward. "Remembering Karen Black as actress, friend, spouse". SFGATE.
60. Saperstein, Pat. (August 8, 2013). "Karen Black Dies at 74". [[Variety (magazine).
61. Eckelberry, Stephen. (October 7, 2013). "Karen and Nina".
62. "Karen Black".
63. McDonald, Marci. (October 7, 1972). "A kooky movie star flees status symbols for cluttered studio". Toronto Star.
64. [https://vimeo.com/75189301 Karen Black Memorial September 17th, 2013]. ''Vimeo''.
65. Gilbey, Ryan. (August 9, 2013). "Karen Black obituary". [[The Guardian]].
66. "Overview for Karen Black". [[Turner Classic Movies]].
67. Wilkins, Barbara. (July 21, 1975). "Wedding Bells in the Canyon: Karen Black Packs Up Her Joys in a Young Kit Carson". People.
68. (January 30, 1981). "Marriage song". Evening Standard.
69. Pacter, Trudi. (October 7, 1984). "Karen's Kind of Loving; The star who keeps her men busy!". Sunday Mirror.
70. Zekas, Rita. (August 25, 1988). "Karen Black's funny on screen and off". Toronto Star.
71. https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/article/Correction-Obit-Karen-Black-story-12658745.php
72. Purcell, Lee. (August 11, 2013). "Tribute to Karen Black". JerryMathers.com.
73. (2013-08-12). ""Karen Black: Perfectly Misunderstood," Published in the Huffington Post".
74. (August 8, 2013). "'Five Easy Pieces' Actress Karen Black Dies at 74". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
75. (August 9, 2013). "Karen Black, Easy Rider actress dies aged 74". [[BBC News]].