Sad news from Hollywood: Karen Black, iconic actress with over 100 film credits, passed away on Thursday after a long a battle with cancer.
A quirky beauty with wild locks, pouty lips, and a knack for playing tragic heroines, Karen was born in Park Ridge, Illinois in 1939, and accepted into Northwestern University at the tender age of 15. But after two years of studying, Karen headed out for the bright lights of New York City, kicking off a career that would see her star in many classic counterculture movies.
Her big break undoubtedly came in the road classic Easy Rider (1969), where she played one of the prostitutes in the infamous graveyard LSD scene with Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper.
She earned an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of a waitress with a heart of gold in Five Easy Pieces (1970), then went big budget as the stewardess who is forced to fly the plane in the thriller Airport 1975 (1974).
For Skin Fans her most mam-orable roles started with her nude debut opposite Kris Kristofferson in Cisco Pike (1972), continued on to her shockingly seductive working girl role in The Day of the Locust (1975), and reached the apex with her fantastic full frontal reveal in Killing Heat (1981).
Word of Black’s death was broken by her husband, Stephen Eckelberry, who announced the sad news on his Facebook page.
We'll miss her, but her beautiful nude work will live forever.
