
Karen Black
Actor · 1939 – 2013 · Park Ridge, Illinois, USA
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.
Movies24
Movie7.0AdventureDramaWyatt and Billy, two Harley-riding hippies, complete a drug deal in Southern California and decide to travel cross-country in search of spiritual truth.
Easy Rider
1969 · 2.2K votes
Movie6.2HorrorTwo teenage couples traveling across the backwoods of Texas searching for urban legends of serial killers end up as prisoners of a bizarre and sadistic backwater family of serial killers.
House of 1000 Corpses
2003 · 1.8K votes
Movie7.2MysteryDramaA Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected - but which one?
The Player
1992 · 986 votes
Movie6.8DramaActionIn order to protect the reputation of the American space program, a team of NASA administrators turn the first Mars mission into a phony Mars landing. Under threat of harm to their families the astronauts play their part in the deception on a staged set in a deserted military base. But once the real ship returns to Earth and burns up on re-entry, the astronauts become liabilities. Now, with the help of a crusading reporter, they must battle a sinister conspiracy that will stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden.
Capricorn One
1977 · 528 votes
Movie7.3DramaComedyThe intersecting stories of twenty-four characters—from country star to wannabe to reporter to waitress—and their connection through the music business in Nashville, Tennessee.
Nashville
1975 · 477 votes
Movie6.3DramaRomanceNick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbor, the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.
The Great Gatsby
1974 · 527 votes
Movie7.1DramaRobert Dupea spends his days doing various odd jobs, drinking and womanizing until an encounter with his sister makes him revisit his past.
Five Easy Pieces
1970 · 618 votes
Movie7.6DocumentaryThe film profiles eight former members of the Church of Scientology, shining a light on how they attract true believers and the things they do in the name of religion.
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
2015 · 885 votes
Movie6.8ComedyCrimeSpiritualist Blanche Tyler and her cab-driving boyfriend encounter a pair of serial kidnappers while trailing a missing heir in California.
Family Plot
1976 · 520 votes
Movie5.8DramaThrillerWhen an in-flight collision incapacitates the pilots of an airplane bound for Los Angeles, stewardess Nancy Pryor is forced to take over the controls. From the ground, her boyfriend Alan Murdock, a retired test pilot, tries to talk her through piloting and landing the 747 aircraft. Worse yet, the anxious passengers — among which are a noisy nun and a cranky man — are aggravating the already tense atmosphere.
Airport 1975
1974 · 305 votes
Movie4.4HorrorScience FictionA dissatisfied Montreal director of TV commercials is taught to astrally project himself by a mysterious woman. But soon he finds that he does it against his will when he sleeps, and while he does it, he commits savage acts against those in his life.
Eternal Evil
1985 · 24 votes
Movie6.5HorrorThrillerA family moves into a large old mansion in the countryside which seems to have a mysterious and sinister power over its new residents.
Burnt Offerings
1976 · 289 votes
Movie6.4DramaHollywood, 1930s. Tod Hackett, a young painter who tries to make his way as an art director in the lurid world of film industry, gets infatuated with his neighbor Faye Greener, an aspiring actress who prefers the life that Homer Simpson, a lone accountant, can offer her.
The Day of the Locust
1975 · 113 votes
Movie4.5HorrorThrillerA bright young medical student must solve the frightening mystery that plagues the children of a small Midwestern town.
Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering
1996 · 179 votes
Movie7.2DocumentaryA documentary about the rise and fall of the Cannon Film Group, the legendary independent film company helmed by Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus.
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
2014 · 180 votes
Movie5.3HorrorThe mutant babies have been placed by court order on a deserted island. Appalled by the cynicism and exploitation by the legal system and the media, the man responsible leads an expedition to the island to free them.
It's Alive III: Island of the Alive
1987 · 82 votes
Movie4.4HorrorA legendary she-demon, in the updated guise of a beautiful model, infiltrates the offices of a successful fashion magazine with the aim of corrupting the world via mass media.
Night Angel
1990 · 22 votes
Movie5.2DramaActionLoner Jessie Palmer must piece together information from a growing body count, including the murder of his best friend, in order to bring down a corrupt U.S. Senate candidate.
Quiet Fire
1991 · 8 votes
Movie5.6HorrorScience FictionA boy tries to stop aliens that have taken over his town and are brainwashing its inhabitants.
Invaders from Mars
1986 · 290 votes
Movie5.6ComedyHorrorA deranged killer wearing a clown mask begins preying on a group of young women working at a phone-sex company.
Out of the Dark
1988 · 49 votes
Movie6.7CrimeDramaA two-bit criminal takes on the Mafia to avenge his brother's death. Earl Macklin is a small time criminal who is released from prison after an unsuccessful bank robbery only to discover that a pair of gunmen killed his brother.
The Outfit
1973 · 103 votes
Movie4.7ThrillerActionJewel thieves attempt to recover treasure from piranha infested waters. Mistrust and betrayals happen amongst the gang in the quest for gold.
Killer Fish
1979 · 72 votes
Movie4.2ComedyA new kid moves into school, making enemies with the affluent societies and joining the beleaguered Science Club. But when an old potion is discovered to confer telekinetic power he gets the chance to get his own back, as well as having a bit of fun on the side.
Zapped Again!
1990 · 43 votes
Movie5.3DramaRomanceAndras Vayda grows up in a turbulent, war-torn Hungary, where he procures local girls for the occupying G.I.'s during World War II. Disappointed by girls of his age, he meets Maya, a married women in her thirties, who tutors him in the lessons of love and romance. Maya is only the first of many mature women that Andras will meet through his teenage and young adult life.
In Praise of Older Women
1978 · 15 votes
Series24
TV7.5Talk ShowThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962 · 96 votes
TV6.9ComedyNewsA late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, and features performances by a musical guest.
Saturday Night Live
1975 · 527 votes
TV5.8ComedyTalk ShowThe Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that originally aired only in the Cleveland area during much of its first two years on the air. It then went into syndication in 1963 and remained on television until 1982. It was distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations in Cleveland and Philadelphia.
The Mike Douglas Show
1961 · 11 votes
TV7.6DramaThe third installment of the “Law & Order” franchise takes viewers deep into the minds of its criminals while following the intense psychological approaches the Major Case Squad uses to solve its crimes.
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
2001 · 387 votes
TV7.5MysteryCrimeAn unassuming mystery writer turned sleuth uses her professional insight to help solve real-life homicide cases.
Murder, She Wrote
1984 · 471 votes
TV7.4CrimeDramaThe story of the Miami Police Department's vice squad and its efforts to end drug trafficking and prostitution, centered on the unlikely partnership of Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs - who first meet when Tubbs is undercover in a drug cartel.
Miami Vice
1984 · 541 votes
TV7.1CrimeDramaAdam-12 is a television police drama that followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12.
Adam-12
1968 · 48 votes
TV6.8Action & AdventureCrimeMannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors. Mannix was the last series produced by Desilu Productions.
Mannix
1967 · 56 votes
TV7.0DramaFive brothers and sisters are determined to stay together following the tragic loss of their parents.
Party of Five
1994 · 137 votes
TV6.6DramaComedyAmerican Playhouse is an anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service in the United States.
American Playhouse
1982 · 8 votes
TV7.0Action & AdventureSci-Fi & FantasyThe Name of the Game is an American television series starring Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry, and Robert Stack that ran from 1968 to 1971 on NBC, totaling 76 episodes of 90 minutes. It was a pioneering wheel series, setting the stage for The Bold Ones and the NBC Mystery Movie in the 1970s. The show had an extremely large budget for a television series.
The Name of the Game
1968 · 13 votes
TV7.1DramaRun for Your Life is an American television drama series starring Ben Gazzara as a man with only a short time to live. It ran on NBC from 1965 to 1968. The series was created by Roy Huggins, who had previously explored the "man on the move" concept with The Fugitive.
Run for Your Life
1965 · 7 votes
TV5.6CrimeDramaThe F.B.I. is an American television series that was broadcast on ABC from 1965 to 1974. It was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, and the characters almost always drove Ford vehicles in the series. Alcoa was co-sponsor of Season One only.
The F.B.I.
1965 · 25 votes
TV6.2WesternDramaThe Big Valley is an American western television series which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969. The show stars Barbara Stanwyck, as the widow of a wealthy nineteenth century California rancher. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman, and produced by Levy-Gardner-Laven for Four Star Television.
The Big Valley
1965 · 59 votes
TV7.7ComedyFamilyThe Carol Burnett Show is an American variety/sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33. The series won 25 prime time Emmy Awards, was ranked No. 16 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time in 2002 and in 2007 was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All Time."
The Carol Burnett Show
1967 · 74 votes
TV7.0CrimeDramaRachel Burke is a criminal profiler, one of the best, actually. She, along with a sophisticated team of specialists on the FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force in Atlanta, investigates crimes throughout the country. Together, they solve the toughest of cases while trying to live their lives as best they can.
Profiler
1996 · 74 votes
TV6.8Action & AdventureSci-Fi & FantasyThe Invaders, alien beings from a dying planet. Their destination: the Earth. Their purpose: to make it their world. David Vincent has seen them, for him it began one lost night on a lonely country road, looking for a shortcut that he never found. It began with a closed deserted diner, and a man too long without sleep to continue his journey. It began with the landing of a craft from another galaxy. Now, David Vincent knows that the Invaders are here, that they have taken human form. Somehow he must convince a disbelieving world that the nightmare has already begun.
The Invaders
1967 · 62 votes
TV6.3DramaCrimeA young hitchhiker introduces characters who are about to experience a frightening and sometimes supernatural incident of some kind in this moody anthology series.
The Hitchhiker
1983 · 32 votes
TV7.2ComedyTim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! is an American sketch comedy television series, created by and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, which premiered February 11, 2007 on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim comedy block and ran until May 2010. The program features surrealistic and often satirical humor, public-access television–style musical acts, bizarre faux-commercials, and editing and special effects chosen to make the show appear camp. The program featured a wide range of actors, spanning from stars such as Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, Will Forte and Zach Galifianakis, to alternative comedians like Neil Hamburger, to television actors like Alan Thicke, celebrity look-alikes and impressionists. The creators of the show have described it as "the nightmare version of television."
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
2007 · 102 votes
TV7.7DramaHigh-priced Houston lawyer Clinton Judd and his assistant Ben Caldwell take difficult cases throughout the U.S.
Judd, for the Defense
1967 · 3 votes
TV8.1DramaFamilyA live-action children's television anthology series retelling popular fairy tales.
Faerie Tale Theatre
1982 · 24 votes
TV9.2An American awards show recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans.
People's Choice Awards
1975 · 6 votes
TV7.0Action & AdventureCrimeDetective Cheng is commissioned by Interpol to destroy the Empire of Chaiba, a worldwide criminal organization based in Southeast Asia. He initiates an undercover operation to infiltrate the organization.
Police Story
1973 · 20 votes
TV6.1DramaMysteryThe Hunger is a British/Canadian television horror anthology series, co-produced by Scott Free Productions, Telescene Film Group Productions and the Canadian pay-TV channel The Movie Network. Though it shares a title with the feature film The Hunger the series has no direct plot or character connection to the film, and was created by Jeff Fazio. Originally shown on the Sci Fi Channel in the UK, The Movie Network in Canada and Showtime in the US, the series was broadcast from 1997 to 2000, and is internally organized into two seasons. Each episode was based around an independent story introduced by the host; Terence Stamp hosted each episode for the first season, and was replaced in the second season by David Bowie. Stories tended to focus on themes of self-destructive desire and obsession, with a strong component of soft-core erotica; popular tropes for the stories included cannibalism, vampires, sex, and poison.
The Hunger
1997 · 46 votes