Born Karen Blanche Ziegler in Park Ridge, IL; educated at Northwestern University and the Actors Studio. Key female performer of the American film renaissance of the early 1970s. Her first big film role was in YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966), directed by Francis Ford Coppola. She then appeared as Marcia in the TV series "The Second Hundred Years." The film that made her a star was EASY RIDER (1969), where she worked with Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and a supporting actor named Jack Nicholson. After earning praise as the smalltown waitress who falls for upper-class drifter Nicholson in FIVE EASY PIECES (1970), Black lent her versatility and unconventional beauty to a number of both offbeat and mainstream films, including Nicholson's DRIVE, HE SAID (1972), Robert Altman's NASHVILLE (1975) and Alfred Hitchcock's swan song, FAMILY PLOT (1976). She received a Goldon Globe for her performance in THE GREAT GATSBY (1974). After a number of forgettable movies, she again won rave reviews for her portrayal of Joanne in Altman's COME BACK TO THE FIVE AND DIME, JIMMY DEAN, JIMMY DEAN (1982), recreating the role she played on Broadway. She has remained busy in film and television in the US and Europe, but the quality of the projects has been sporadic. Her son by screenwriter-actor L.M. (Kit) Carson is actor Hunter Carson, with whom she appeared in INVADERS FROM MARS (1986).  Nominated for Supporting Actress 1970: FIVE EASY PIECES 1 nomination