Black was born as Karen Blanche Ziegler in Park Ridge, Illinois, the daughter of Elsie (née Reif), a writer of several prize-winning children's novels, and Norman A. Ziegler. Her paternal grandfather was Arthur Ziegler, a classical musician and the first violinist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Her sister is actress Gail Brown. She attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, for two years, having commenced university studies in 1954, aged 15. She then moved to New York where she appeared in a number of off-Broadway productions.

Black began her film career in 1959 with a small role in The Prime Time.

She had previously written and sung the theme song and supporting songs for The Pyx (1973).

In 1970, Black appeared in the film, Five Easy Pieces, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award.

In April 2009, Black reunited with director Steve Balderson for Stuck! – an homage to film noir women-in-prison dramas, which co-starred Mink Stole, Pleasant Gehman and The Go-Go's Jane Wiedlin. Black stars also in the John Landis-produced 2010 thriller Some Guy Who Kills People.

Black has been married four times, first to Charles Black from 1955 to 1962, then to Robert Burton, who played her student in the TV movie Trilogy of Terror, from 1973 to 1974.

She has been a Scientologist since the 1970's and despite some 2006 rumors to the contrary, she and her husband are still active..

Rita Moreno (1961) · Angela Lansbury (1962) · Margaret Rutherford (1963) · Agnes Moorehead (1964) · Ruth Gordon (1965) · Jocelyne LaGarde (1966) · Carol Channing (1967) · Ruth Gordon (1968) · Goldie Hawn (1969) · Karen Black/Maureen Stapleton (1970) · Ann-Margret (1971) · Shelley Winters (1972) · Linda Blair (1973) · Karen Black (1974) · Brenda Vaccaro (1975) · Katharine Ross (1976) · Vanessa Redgrave (1977) · Dyan Cannon (1978) · Meryl Streep (1979) · Mary Steenburgen (1980)

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