RIP Karen Black (1939-2013)
Friday, August 9, 2013 at 2:24PM I don't know where to begin with the death of Karen Black. That's not just because I am not as familiar with her career as I've wanted to be given its peculiar character. It's also because: where the hell do you start with Karen Black?
As Nick reminded on Twitter yesterday, I've long thought that 1970s Hollywood had the most expansive idea of what constituted sexy and Karen is a perfect example, with her cross eyes and giant cheek bones. I've sometimes thought of her very memorable face as what would happen if an American mold of Sophia Loren got all funky and squished in the kiln and didn't quite work out. But Karen made the most of it... [more]
...working with Hitchcock on his last (Family Plot), with Altman on his best (Nashville), and with Coppola on one of his first (You're a Big Boy Now) and co-starring in two seminal 70s pieces Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces (for which she was Oscar nominated). She gamely shifted to B movie horror after her 70s heyday to much fan obsession and has long had a band named in her honor that's still going strong.
A few years after her Oscar nomination she won the Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe for playing Myrtle in The Great Gatsby (1974, previously discussed) but Oscar love strangely didn't follow. Myrtle was a far more substantial role in the novel and in that particular film version than it happened to be in the latest Baz Luhrmann hit with Isla Fisher having the unenviable task of both following in Karen's footsteps and having the bulk of the character dismissed.
I'm not sure if this May interview posted at Karen Black's website was her last official interview but in it, she discusses her process as an actor, an emotionally intuitive one rather than a technical trained one, and the character of Myrtle.
Karen Black as "Myrtle" in The Great Gatsby
On becoming the character...
I did a movie once with an actress who thought she could think her way into a role, she would work very hard, her voice would tremble, she had the idea that imagination is like an object - it isn't, imagination is like nothing, its like air, it’s light, you don't force it; you work hard to establish the life of character and the reality of character so you no longer have to think, you only produce the result of living your character; you are that character. You don't want to be two people: you and the character.
It just happens. You study, you do whatever it takes to become the character, though it can happen instantly, so you don't force it, but you think about their lives, where they were born, and a lot of times the place will determine what they want or need. You have all that in you, and the leap is talent.
Goodbye Karen Black. We'll watch a move in honor of you this week. I think I'm heading straight to Family Plot given the unofficial Hitchcock week we're having.
Reader Comments (19)
Karen. :(
Always an enjoyable screen presence. Loved her in Day of the Locust and should have gotten an Oscar nomination.
I need to take a look at "Family Plot." Never heard of it before this week.
I loved that woman. Five Easy Pieces, Nashville, Day of the Locust, Easy Rider, The Great Gatsby, Family Plot. She was a force to be reckoned with back in the 1970s, but then came all the horror films. Even though she attained cult status, I wish Hollywood had given her the opportunity to continue to make real quality products. RIP.
This is a sad one. There was something about just reading "Karen Black in Five Easy Pieces" when I started to become Oscar-obsessed that nudges supporting actress to become my favorite category. The performance itself is really wonderful.
But I always think of her best in Nashville, soaking up the applause or making fun of Julie Christie's hair.
This is beyond strange. Yesterday, before the news came out, I was watching "Tales of the City" where she briefly appears as herself. I didn't know that and I was so surprised that I had to check imdb to make sure. I saw she had a couple of movies in post-production and thought "Well, she's still around".
Hollywood has been incredibly ungrateful to most of the actresses of the 70s.
For me, her most memorable performance was in Altman's 1982 Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. She was excellent along with the rest of the cast: Cher, Kathy Bates, Sandy Dennis. I re-watched it recently and still found it haunting.
Cannot stop thinking about Connie White. "Memphis" has been running in my brain all day and I'm definitely considering popping in Nashville this weekend just to soak up that perfectly abbreviated, deliciously deft performance. She's tons of fun in it (i.e. swatting away Barnett without moving a muscle, cackling away at curlicued Julie Christie, or "I want you to study real hard, because remember, any one of you can grow up to be the president...") and it looks like she's barely doing a thing. God, she was good.
Karen was a unique presence in the cinema, and a maverick for actresses in the 70s. She brought a new sense of grounded naturalism and stretched the boundaries of what cinematic characterization could be. Along with Diane Keaton, Marsha Mason, Ellen Burstyn and Barbara Harris, she redefined film acting for a generation of moviegoers. A great loss.
Trilogy. Of. Terror.
This was such sad news. She was a wonderful actress, and those words about her process don't surprise me. She always treated every role, no matter how big or small, as if she were playing the most important character in the movie. Loved her.
She even made the most of the 70s disaster movie moment, playing the Stewardess Flying The Plane in "Airport 75." I always loved seeing her on film. She was one of a kind. And then some.
I'm glad you took the time to post something about her, Nathaniel. She really was one of a kind.
I remember, before I ever saw the Mia Gatsby, hearing that it was Karen Black who played Myrtle Wilson and thinking how perfect she fit what I already imagined that character to look like. Though a good actress, Isla Fisher isn't Myrtle Wilson, and that shows you the difference between that era and this.
Like you said, it's pretty awesome she could fill the role of a pretty big star, and a shame there weren't more big roles for her to play into the 80s and 90s.
This one stings. She was such a beguiling and unique actor. My favourite performance of hers would be COME BACK TO THE FIVE AND DIME JIMMY DEAN, JIMMY DEAN. Not too many people have seen that Altman gem (which I prefer even to NASHVILLE, which she also appeared in) so I won't ruin the surprise of her performance, especially since a restored print is popping up in cities and a likely DVD/Blu-ray release will follow, but she's such a brave and commanding presence. Even in stuff like HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES, you know?
Karen Black was a one of a kind ... she enhanced each and every role she played... she was perfect for the 70's, but when the pretty girls again took to the box office she rather faded away..
Unfortunately, she continued on into the 80's and 90's doing very low budget horror films...
a wasted talent left unused before her time...
Karen Black was a horror movie diva- "Trilogy of Terror" is an acting tour de force which deserved an Emmy.
I remember a scathing review of Airport 75 that said you don't hand over the controls of the airplane to someone cross eyed! ;-) I always found her terrific in such a crazy offbeat way. Talk about one of a kind. Five & Dime is probably my favorite of her post early 70s work. And I swear I saw her in some gay movie where she played the crazy Miss Haversham type spectral homeowner or something. No idea what it might be but I was glad she was there.
I watched Nashville again last night in her honor. Such a rich movie that oh so subtly draws you in such slow-burning, wonderful way. And to go into the awards context, it is RIDICULOUS that through the whole movie that ONE song was nominated. Great song but, REALLY?!?!?!? Did the cinema classics of Mahogany, Funny Lady, Whiffs, and The Other Side of the Mountain really need to have their songs nominated in place of "It Don't Worry Me", "Rolling Stone", "Memphis", and so many others? It even got shafted with just the two acting nominations, although deserving nods for Tomlin and Blakley.
Also her portrayal of Myrtle almost makes the Clayton version of Gatsby worth-seeing.
RIP Ms. Black
I remember having a major 'who is that woman?!' moment over her performance in Five Easy Pieces.
A great, always absorbing actress. Sadly a tad underused, but with Pieces and Easy Rider and Nashville in her filmography, at least she'll never be forgotten.
So sad. For me, her performances in Airport 1975 and Red Dirt are my favorite. Airport is one of my first movie memories and I loved her desperation and conviction in the role, despite it's overall silliness. It's what she was so good at - giving real conviction to the part, no matter what the quality of the movie was. Without a doubt, she is one of the best actresses ever at this. And her twisted take on a Southern gothic character in Red Dirt still floors me. Some may see it as overkill, but I think it was perfection.