Sad news:
Karen Black, “Five Easy Pieces” star, dead at 74
Karen Black, who appeared in more than 100 movies and was featured in such counterculture favorites as “Easy Rider,” “Five Easy Pieces” and “Nashville,” has died.
Black’s husband, Stephen Eckelberry, says the actress died Wednesday from complications from cancer. She was 74.
It is with great sadness that I have to report that my wife and best friend, Karen Black has just passed away, only a few minutes ago,” he wrote on Facebook. “Thank you all for all your prayers and love, they meant so much to her as they did to me.”
Known for her full lips and thick, wavy hair that seemed to change color from film to film, Black often portrayed women who were quirky, troubled or threatened. She was a prostitute who takes LSD with Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda in 1969’s “Easy Rider,” a breakthrough that helped get her the role as a waitress who dates an upper-class dropout played by Jack Nicholson in 1970’s “Five Easy Pieces.” Black won an Oscar nomination and Golden Globe Award for that performance.
IMNSHO her best work was in the 1975 television movie Trilogy of Terror where she played four roles in three stories. The last part was the best.
Rest in peace.
The Crawdad Hole 
Trilogy of Terror was the first time I’d ever seen Karen Black. The little ‘Devil Doll’ was the greatest prop ever!!!! A precursor to Chuckie et al – they all paled in comparison. She seemed genuinely scared out of her pants…. and rightfully so.
I will miss ‘er.
It was a Zuni fetish doll named “He Who Kills”
I was a little kid at the time, I remember it was some kind of tribal doll, and it scared the daylights out of me
Watching that little thing scurry around with a knife was too golden.
I’ve never forgotten Karen Black because of that role.
Thanks for bringing it all up!
I was 15 when it came out and it it scared me too. The amazing thing is that was a television movie. It was directed by Dan Curtis who also directed Dark Shadows and Kolchak: The Nightstalker.
I’ve got a great still of the doll in the with the knife clenched in its teeth. I MMS it to let people know when I’m in that mood. They usually wait a day or so to get back to me
I remember her from this.
one of my favorites….
She was in Alfred Hitchcock’s last movie, “The Family Plot”.
Hitchcock made better movies than they do today.
The main reason is Hitchcock’s target audience is past the drooling stage.
In my youth, going to the Drive In to watch any number of Karen Black movies was always a treat. We lost an original great. RIP Karen.
Simulated news of the day.
I mean, who DIDN’T do that in college?
Sounds like a run of the mill high school FFA meeting.
I seem to be coming down with a cold or something.
I must have caught it from a viral video.
I usually give my laptop a good bath after watching videos. kills the germs.