{"id":69769,"date":"2013-08-09T07:51:19","date_gmt":"2013-08-09T11:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=69769"},"modified":"2013-08-09T09:35:43","modified_gmt":"2013-08-09T13:35:43","slug":"r-i-p-karen-black","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=69769","title":{"rendered":"R.I.P. Karen Black"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/karenblack-slider-01.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/karenblack-slider-01.jpg\" alt=\"karenblack-slider-01\" width=\"526\" height=\"288\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-69770\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/karenblack-slider-01.jpg 526w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/karenblack-slider-01-100x54.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/karenblack-slider-01-200x109.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/karenblack-slider-01-400x219.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 526px) 100vw, 526px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6TsBTZyhmqc\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/347986_large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/347986_large.jpg\" alt=\"MSDCOBA EC005\" width=\"700\" height=\"450\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-69790\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/347986_large.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/347986_large-100x64.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/347986_large-200x128.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/347986_large-400x257.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/620x348xkarenblack4.jpg.pagespeed.ic_.umZYivWbiu.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/620x348xkarenblack4.jpg.pagespeed.ic_.umZYivWbiu.jpg\" alt=\"620x348xkarenblack4.jpg.pagespeed.ic.umZYivWbiu\" width=\"620\" height=\"348\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-69771\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/620x348xkarenblack4.jpg.pagespeed.ic_.umZYivWbiu.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/620x348xkarenblack4.jpg.pagespeed.ic_.umZYivWbiu-100x56.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/620x348xkarenblack4.jpg.pagespeed.ic_.umZYivWbiu-200x112.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/620x348xkarenblack4.jpg.pagespeed.ic_.umZYivWbiu-400x224.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/tumblr_mkzmpjM57S1qzdza2o1_500.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/tumblr_mkzmpjM57S1qzdza2o1_500.jpg\" alt=\"tumblr_mkzmpjM57S1qzdza2o1_500\" width=\"500\" height=\"625\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-69772\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/tumblr_mkzmpjM57S1qzdza2o1_500.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/tumblr_mkzmpjM57S1qzdza2o1_500-80x100.jpg 80w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/tumblr_mkzmpjM57S1qzdza2o1_500-160x200.jpg 160w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/tumblr_mkzmpjM57S1qzdza2o1_500-320x400.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\nAnd &#8230;..<\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/628x471.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/628x471.jpg\" alt=\"628x471\" width=\"616\" height=\"471\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-69778\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/628x471.jpg 616w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/628x471-100x76.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/628x471-200x152.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/628x471-400x305.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 616px) 100vw, 616px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\nShe helped define for me what good acting was, what good acting looked like.  I remember when I found out that she had written the songs she performed in <i>Nashville<\/i>. The whole cast wrote their own songs.  I think I was in college when this information came down to me, and I was studying acting, and it just made me think about process\/imagination\/guts in a whole new way. It was a revelation.  A reminder that acting is not a passive process.  It is active.  (One of my great acting teachers at the Actors Studio used to say, &#8220;Remember that the name of the job is ACT-or. It&#8217;s not FEEL-er.&#8221;  Ha.)   Karen Black is so good in <i>Nashville<\/i>, and that was her own active creation.  Altman encouraged it, pushed for it, let her go.  Like I said, it made me think about acting in a whole new way.  She is in a couple of my favorite movies ever made.  And while <i>Trilogy of Terror<\/i> is not on that list, she is terrifying in it, and that was another movie that helped ruin my childhood.  The premise sounds so stupid, doesn&#8217;t it?  But it scares the shit out of me.  Only in the 1970s could she have gotten the roles that she did, found herself at the top of the casting-list of the great directors of the day.  This is a critique of how Hollywood normally operates.  She was never less than totally interesting, her unique face eloquent and mysterious at the same time.  <\/p>\n<p>Time to pop in <i>Five Easy Pieces<\/i>, <i>Nashville<\/i>, <i>Burnt Offerings<\/i>, <i>Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean<\/i>. But maybe not <i>Trilogy of Terror<\/i>. That thing still gives me nightmares.<\/p>\n<p>And don&#8217;t miss <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/balder-and-dash\/karen-black-death-birth-obituary-appreciation\" target=\"_blank\">my friend Dan Callahan&#8217;s wonderful obituary<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p>Dan writes:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>If that period in American film was storied and liberated and golden, it might be said that Black was the \u201cwhat the hell?\u201d emblem of the American New Wave, its most extreme, improvisational player, its most unusual, unaccountable, unstable presence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Yes.<\/p>\n<p>Rest in peace.<\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Karen-Black.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Karen-Black.jpg\" alt=\"Karen Black\" width=\"640\" height=\"498\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-69773\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Karen-Black.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Karen-Black-100x77.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Karen-Black-200x155.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Karen-Black-400x311.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>And &#8230;.. She helped define for me what good acting was, what good acting looked like. I remember when I found out that she had written the songs she performed in Nashville. The whole cast wrote their own songs. I &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=69769\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69769"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69769"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69791,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69769\/revisions\/69791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}