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.