Zoneboy
08-08-2013, 06:03 PM
Link (http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-actress-karen-black-dead-at-74--20130808,0,1998067.story)
Oscar nominatd actress Karen Black has died at 74.
Her husband, Stephen Eckelberry, confirmed the death on Facebook on Thursday. The actress, famous for her performances in "Five Easy Pieces" and "Easy Rider" and "Nashville," had cancer.
Black had the good fortune to arrive on the Hollywood scene as the old studio order was fading and a new one -- guided by a greater sense of permissiveness and narrative complexity -- took its place.
She was not conventionally attractive, but in age where a gap-toothed Lauren Hutton could become a supermodel and actors like Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman, whose ethnic looks would have doomed them to character roles, took their place as leading men, Black became a symbol of New Hollywood.
Her film credits overflow with films that captured the zeitgeist of the period and her on-screen persona -- slightly daffy, somewhat blue collar -- was melded by the likes of Robert Altman, John Schlesinger, and Bob Rafelson.
Among her most famous roles was the pregnant girlfriend of Jack Nicholson's character in "Five Easy Pieces," for which she would receive an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Oscar nominatd actress Karen Black has died at 74.
Her husband, Stephen Eckelberry, confirmed the death on Facebook on Thursday. The actress, famous for her performances in "Five Easy Pieces" and "Easy Rider" and "Nashville," had cancer.
Black had the good fortune to arrive on the Hollywood scene as the old studio order was fading and a new one -- guided by a greater sense of permissiveness and narrative complexity -- took its place.
She was not conventionally attractive, but in age where a gap-toothed Lauren Hutton could become a supermodel and actors like Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman, whose ethnic looks would have doomed them to character roles, took their place as leading men, Black became a symbol of New Hollywood.
Her film credits overflow with films that captured the zeitgeist of the period and her on-screen persona -- slightly daffy, somewhat blue collar -- was melded by the likes of Robert Altman, John Schlesinger, and Bob Rafelson.
Among her most famous roles was the pregnant girlfriend of Jack Nicholson's character in "Five Easy Pieces," for which she would receive an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.