Karen Black, Academy-award nominated actress and siren of the late-sixties and seventies, died Thursday after a long struggle with cancer. Known for her come-hither looks and warmhearted roles, the Illinois-native studied acting under Lee Strasberg, the iconic method acting teacher whose list of students included James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Al Pacino. During the mid-sixties, she appeared on off-Broadway productions before getting recognized by Francis Ford Coppola and made her film debut in his 1966 film, You're a Big Boy Now. In 1969, she appeared as a New Orleans prostitute opposite Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper in the counter-cultural masterpiece, Easy Rider.
In 1970, she earned a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as the ditzy, yet loyal, Rayette Dipesto in Five Easy Pieces and won a second Golden Globe for her performance in Jack Clayton's adaptation of The Great Gatsby. Throughout the Seventies, Black worked with the decade's most sought-after filmmakers like Robert Altman, John Schlesinger and Alfred Hitchcock. By the Eighties, the films of the counterculture were overshadowed by blockbusters and Black's career faded to B-movie obscurity. Her career and contribution to the era penned by Peter Biskind as the era of "Easy Riders and Raging Bulls" will be remembered by many. She is survived by her husband Stephen Eckelberry and two children.
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