Karen Black, "Five Easy Pieces" star, dead at 74 Karen Black, who appeared in more than 100 movies and was featured in such counterculture favorites as "Easy Rider," "Five Easy Pieces" and "Nashville," has died. Black's husband, Stephen Eckelberry, says the actress died Wednesday from complications from cancer. She was 74. "It is with great sadness that I have to report that my wife and best friend, Karen Black has just passed away, only a few minutes ago," he wrote on Facebook. Thank you all for all your prayers and love, they meant so much to her as they did to me. Known for her full lips and thick, wavy hair that seemed to change color from film to film, Black often portrayed women who were quirky, troubled or threatened. She was a prostitute who takes LSD with Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda in 1969's "Easy Rider," a breakthrough that helped get her the role as a waitress who dates an upper-class dropout played by Jack Nicholson in 1970's "Five Easy Pieces." Black won an Oscar nomination and Golden Globe Award for that performance.