Karen Blanche Ziegler (Park Ridge, Illinois, 1 de juliol del 1939 – Santa Monica, Califòrnia, 8 d'agost del 2013), coneguda artísticament com a Karen Black va ser una actriu, guionista i cantautora estatunidenca. Durant la seva carrera artística, va guanyar dos Globus d'Or (de tres nominacions) i una nominació als Oscar a la millor actriu secundària el 1970.

凯伦·布兰奇·布莱克（原名齐格勒;1939 年 7 月 1 日 - 2013 年 8 月 8 日）是美国女演员、编剧、歌手和词曲作者。她在 1970 年代因在各种制片厂和独立电影中的工作而声名鹊起，经常扮演古怪和另类的角色，并确立了自己作为新好莱坞人物的地位。她的职业生涯跨越了 50 多年，包括近 200 部独立和主流电影的学分。布莱克在她的职业生涯中获得了无数荣誉，包括两次金球奖，以及奥斯卡最佳女配角提名。

布莱克出生于芝加哥郊区，在西北大学学习戏剧，然后辍学并搬到纽约市。她于 1965 年在百老汇演出，然后在弗朗西斯·福特·科波拉 （Francis Ford Coppola） 的《你现在是个大男孩》（1966 年）中首次亮相。布莱克搬到了加利福尼亚，并在丹尼斯·霍珀（Dennis Hopper）的公路电影《逍遥骑士》（1969）中饰演一名酸性绊倒的。这导致了她在电视剧《五件小事》（1970 年）中的主角，她在剧中扮演一位绝望的美容师，并因此获得奥斯卡金像奖提名并获得了金球奖最佳女配角奖。布莱克凭借灾难片《机场 1975》（1974 年）拍摄了她的第一部主要商业电影，随后她在《了不起的盖茨比》（1974 年）中饰演默特尔·威尔逊，为她赢得了第二个金球奖最佳女配角奖。

布莱克在罗伯特·奥特曼的合奏音乐剧《纳什维尔》（1975 年）中饰演一位迷人的乡村歌手，还为配乐创作和表演了两首歌曲，获得了格莱美最佳配乐奖。她在约翰·施莱辛格（John Schlesinger）的电视剧《蝗虫之日》（The Day of the Locust，也是1975年）中饰演一位有抱负的女演员，为她赢得了第三次金球奖提名，这次是最佳女主角。随后，她在丹·柯蒂斯（Dan Curtis）的选集恐怖电影《恐怖三部曲》（1975）中扮演了四个角色，随后是柯蒂斯（Curtis）的超自然恐怖片《燔祭》（1976）。同年，她在阿尔弗雷德·希区柯克的最后一部电影《家庭阴谋》中饰演骗子。

1982 年，布莱克在罗伯特·奥特曼执导的百老汇处女作《回到五角钱，吉米·迪恩，吉米·迪恩》中饰演跨性别女性，她还在奥特曼随后的电影改编中重新扮演了这个角色。她接下来出演了喜剧片《她能烤樱桃派吗？（1983 年），随后是 Tobe Hooper 翻拍的《来自火星的入侵者》（1986 年）。在 1980 年代末和 1990 年代的大部分时间里，布莱克出演了各种艺术电影、独立电影和恐怖电影，并编写了自己的剧本。她在 Rob Zombie 的 House of 1000 Corpses （2003） 中饰演一个邪恶的母亲，这巩固了她作为邪教恐怖偶像的地位。在整个 2000 年代初期，她继续出演低调的电影，并在 2013 年因壶腹癌去世之前担任剧作家。

Karen Blanche Black (née Ziegler; July 1, 1939 – August 8, 2013) was an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She rose to prominence for her work in various studio and independent films in the 1970s, frequently portraying eccentric and offbeat characters, and established herself as a figure of New Hollywood. Her career spanned over 50 years and includes nearly 200 credits in both independent and mainstream films. Black received numerous accolades throughout her career, including two Golden Globe Awards, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

A native of suburban Chicago, Black studied theater at Northwestern University before dropping out and relocating to New York City. She performed on Broadway in 1965 before making her major film debut in Francis Ford Coppola's You're a Big Boy Now (1966). Black relocated to California and was cast as an acid-tripping prostitute in Dennis Hopper's road film Easy Rider (1969). That led to a lead in the drama Five Easy Pieces (1970), in which she played a hopeless beautician, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. Black made her first major commercial picture with the disaster film Airport 1975 (1974), and her subsequent appearance as Myrtle Wilson in The Great Gatsby (1974) won her a second Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.

Black starred as a glamorous country singer in Robert Altman's ensemble musical drama Nashville (1975), also writing and performing two songs for the soundtrack, which won a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack. Her portrayal of an aspiring actress in John Schlesinger's drama The Day of the Locust (also 1975) earned her a third Golden Globe nomination, this time for Best Actress. She subsequently took on four roles in Dan Curtis' anthology horror film Trilogy of Terror (1975), followed by Curtis's supernatural horror feature, Burnt Offerings (1976). The same year, she starred as a con artist in Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot.

In 1982, Black starred as a trans woman in the Robert Altman-directed Broadway debut of Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, a role she also reprised in Altman's subsequent film adaptation. She next starred in the comedy Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? (1983), followed by Tobe Hooper's remake of Invaders from Mars (1986). For much of the late 1980s and 1990s, Black starred in a variety of arthouse, independent, and horror films, as well as writing her own screenplays. She had a leading role as a villainous mother in Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses (2003), which cemented her status as a cult horror icon. She continued to star in low-profile films throughout the early 2000s, as well as working as a playwright before her death from ampullary cancer in 2013.

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