The Easy Rider star's husband, Stephen Eckelberry, announced her death on his Facebook page, saying, "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."
Black, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Five Easy Pieces opposite Jack Nicholson, was diagnosed with ampullary cancer in November 2010 and had a third of her pancreas removed. She was declared cancer-free in 2011, but in March this year, a fundraising page was set up to help raise public donations for experimental treatment in Europe that was not covered by insurance.
On Aug. 7, just a day before she passed, Eckelberry posted an update saying that Black had become bed-bound as the cancer had spread to her spine and back and they were unable to go to Europe. But he said he had "given up predicting what is going to happen to Karen."
"You look at the scans, they tell you one thing, then you meet Karen, and what you are left with is how amazingly alive she is," he wrote. "She can't help but take life head-on and be completely engaged in the moment, always interested, always curious, always present."
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