Although best known for her early 1970s film roles, actress Karen Black -- who passed away from cancer today at age 74 -- paid her share of Broadway dues. The closest she had to a hit was her debut; she came in as an understudy to “Take Her, She’s Mine”, a 1961 comedy by Henry & Phoebe Ephron (Nora’s parents). Directed by George Abbott and produced by Hal Prince, “Take Her” ran 404 performances at the Biltmore Theater, though how many of those Black got to do is unknown.

Three years later, Black appeared opposite Bonnie Bedelia in “The Playroom”, which ran about a month at the Brooks Atkinson Theater. A four-performance flop aptly titled “Happily Never After” followed in 1966, with the David Merrick-produced “Keep it in the Family” running only five performances the following year.

Black’s last Broadway show was, in some ways, her most successful. She appeared in “Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean”, directed by Robert Altman. Though the show ran less than two months, it led to Black appearing in Altman’s film version opposite Sandy Dennis, Kathy Bates, and Cher.

Off-Broadway, Black appeared in the 1962 musical “We’re Civilized” and as Olivia 1963 NY Shakespeare Festival “Twelfth Night”, which also featured Charles Durning as the jester. Black, whose film credits include “Nashville”, “Family Plot”, “Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?”, and an Oscar-nominated turn in “Five Easy Pieces”, made her last New York stage appearance in “The Vagina Monologues” more than a decade ago.