After months of fighting against cancer, Karen Black, the cult actress who starred in such films as Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces and Nashville has died at the age of 74. Her husband Stephen Eckelberry posted news of her death on Facebook:

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. Thank you all for all your prayers and love, they meant so much to her as they did to me.

Yesterday, in a heart-rending update on Karen’s blog, Stephen wrote:

A lot of people have been asking me what’s the latest with Karen, so here it is:

Last post I did was mid-June, we were in St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica. A week later, everything the hospital could do for Karen had been done; bacterial infections & anemia handled, heart & lungs working - everything but the cancer itself.  By the way, props to St John’s, a top notch hospital with a great staff of doctor’s and nurses.

Karen’s health continued to deteriorate at an alarming pace. She became bed-bound: the spreading cancer having eaten away part of a vertebra and nerves in her lower back. Her left leg stopped functioning.  We could not go to Europe as we had hoped. It would have been almost impossible to travel to the airport.  So we brought alternative treatments to her bedside.  Hardly as effective as doing a full treatment in a clinic, but I firmly believe that these treatments have been keeping her alive.  I can’t tell you how many times doctors and nurses have pulled me aside and told me that I better start hospice, as she was about to die….The cancer is still spreading slowly and it takes its toll.

Stephen and his daughter Celine gave up work to take care of Karen, and in June this year, they filmed a “deeply moving and candid conversation” between Karen and her friend Elliot Mintz. Though emotionally “raw,” it is hoped that this footage will one day be released. Read the full blog here.

R.I.P. Karen Black 1939-2013
 

 
Above, a Karen Black audio interview with Movie Geeks United from May 2012. Below, Karen Black in Trilogy of Terror, the legendary 1975 portmanteau TV horror movie that scared the living daylights out of a generation of Americans (skip straight ahead to about 45 minutes in for the devil doll story.)