In The News

Tributes are paid to actress Karen Black

Tributes are paid to actress Karen Black

TRIBUTES have been paid to the American actress Karen Black who has passed away at the age of 74.

Ms. Black had enjoyed a career which spanned more than 50 years and included work on the stage and in television and films. She had started her career in Off-Broadway productions after studying with Lee Strasberg at the Actor’s Studio in New York. Television work was to follow before her first big film role in You’re A Big Boy Now (1966), which was directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

But the film which was to confirm her as a star was Easy Rider (1969). She played a prostitute in the movie which starred Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. Within months she had earned an Oscar nomination for her role in Five Easy Pieces which also starred Jack Nicholson. While she missed out on an Academy Award, her performance was rewarded with a Golden Globe.

She was to win another Golden Globe for her performance in The Great Gatsby (1974), which also starred Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. Other notable performances from this period were in Alfred Hitchcock’s last film Family Plot (1976), and the TV movie Trilogy Of Terror (1975).

For Robert Altman’s Nashville (1975), she not only produced a fine performance as Country singer Connie White but wrote two of the songs she performed in the movie for which she earned a nomination for a Grammy Award for the Album of Best Original Score written for a motion picture or television series.

But the mid-1970s were to represent, in many ways, a high watermark in her career. For a long period afterwards Ms. Black complained that she was rarely offered good film roles. She did enjoy good reviews for her role in Come Back To The Five And Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982).

She was to appear in more than 100 films during her career and had worked on three movies in 2013.

In 2010, Ms. Black was diagnosed with cancer. Following a period of remission in 2011 the illness returned the following year. She passed away at a clinic in Los Angeles.

Ms. Black is survived by her fourth husband Stephen Eckelberry and two children.

To view film montage of Ms. Black’s work, click here.

To view an archive interview with Ms. Black, click here.

View previous In the News items: Wizard of Oz munchkin Margaret Pelligrini passes away, Webcam is set up at the grave of Andy Warhol, Broadcaster and music critic John Amis passes away, Businessman Berthold Beitz passes away, Actress Eileen Brennan passes away, Singer and songwriter JJ Cale passes away, Fracking pioneer George P Mitchell passes away, Security to be increased at City Cemetery, Tributes are paid to former boxing champion Emile Griffith, Actor Dennis Farina passes away, Tributes are paid to former Welsh footballer Phil Woosnam, Olympic medalist Todd Bennett passes away, Tributes are paid to actor Paul Bhattacharjee, Acouostics pioneer Amar Bose passes away, Tributes are paid to TV legend Alan Whicker, Actor Joe Conley passes away, Tributes are paid to computer mouse inventor Douglas Engelbart, Cancer is number one cause of death in Northern Ireland, Work still to begin on planned crematoriums, Photographer Bert Stern passes away, Tributes are paid to new wave drummer Alan Myers, Science fiction author Richard Matheson passes away, Blues singer Bobby Bland passes away, Tributes are paid to author Vince Flynn, Country singer Slim Whitman passes away, Funeral takes place of tragic Newry man, Former tennis champion Gene Mako passes away, Jazz flautist Sam Most passes away, Tributes are paid to pioneering chocolate maker, Champion racehorse trainer Sir Henry Cecil passes away, Former athletics star Donna Hartley passes away, Swimming movie star Esther Williams passes away, Tributes are paid to writer Tom Sharpe, Funerals take place of drowning victims, Singer Clarence Burke Jr passes away, Tributes are paid to Nobel winner Heinrich Rohrer, Actor Bill Pertwee passes away, Cancer deaths increase in Northern Ireland, Tributes are paid to former footballer Brian Greenhoff, Rock bassist Trevor Bolder passes away, Morecame and Wise comedy writer passes away, Comedy star Paul Shane passes away, Scientist who helped identify hole in ozone layer passes away, Tributes are paid to Archers actor Arnold Peters, Expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls passes away, Film director and writer Bryan Forbes passes away, Tributes are paid to film special effects genius Ray Harryhausen, Heart attack deaths continue to fall in Northern Ireland, Cancer treatment trailblazer Emil Frei passes away, Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman passes away, Former Hollywood great Deanna Durbin passes away, Headstone error corrected at grave of Anne Bronte or Oldest man in Northern Ireland passes away

If you have a relative or a friend who has passed away and feel they should be mentioned in our In the News section, then please email us.