Editing Karen Black (section)

===1980–1985: Career comedown===
[[File:Stephen Eckelberry and Karen Black.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|With husband Stephen Eckelberry during their courtship]]

In 1980, Black starred in a made-for-TV movie ''[[Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop]]''. She subsequently starred in the drama ''[[Killing Heat]]'' (1981), based on [[Doris Lessing]]'s 1950 novel ''[[The Grass Is Singing]]'', which focused on race relations in [[South Africa]] in the 1960s; in the film, Black portrayed an urban woman who relocates to a rural farm with her husband.{{sfn|Weldon|1996|p=314}} She also appeared as [[Émilienne d'Alençon]] in the French film ''[[Chanel Solitaire]]'' (1981), a biographical feature detailing the early life of [[Coco Chanel]].{{sfn|Weldon|1996|p=100}}

In 1982, Black starred opposite [[Cher]] and [[Sandy Dennis]]<ref name=npr>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2013/08/09/210547172/karen-black-strange-and-lovely-and-always-game|work=[[NPR]]|access-date=August 21, 2019|title=Karen Black, Strange And Lovely, And Always Game|last=Del Barco|first=Mandalit|date=August 9, 2013}}</ref> in a Robert Altman-directed Broadway production of ''[[Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (play)|Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean]]''.<ref name=pb/> She subsequently co-starred with Cher and Dennis in Altman's [[Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (film)|film adaptation]], also released in 1982.<ref name=npr/> In both renditions, she portrayed the role of Joanne, a [[trans woman]] in a small Texas town.<ref name="npr" /> Black spent months preparing for the role, and "did research into pretty depressing statistics about people who've become transsexuals and how they still don't feel complete. I had to become a man, and I am not a man...&nbsp; And that transition was so painful to me, to become a man, that I could use the pain of my actual transition for Joanne."<ref name=ww>{{cite web|work=[[Willamette Week]]|location=Portland, Oregon|title=The Voluptuous Allure of Karen Black|last=Beck|first=Byron|date=July 9, 2002|url=https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-1120-the-voluptuous-allure-of-karen-black.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20190822091912/https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-1120-the-voluptuous-allure-of-karen-black.html|archive-date=August 22, 2019|access-date=August 22, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> While the Broadway production garnered Black some unfavorable reviews,<ref name=wp>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/11/19/riding-the-come-back-trailjimmydean-altmans-new-triumph/0bc0625b-5394-487a-97da-c944cbea8235/|title=Riding the 'Come Back' Trail 'Jimmy Dean': Altman's New Triumph|last=Arnold|first=Gary|date=November 19, 1982|archive-url=https://archive.today/20190822093800/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/11/19/riding-the-come-back-trailjimmydean-altmans-new-triumph/0bc0625b-5394-487a-97da-c944cbea8235/?noredirect=on|archive-date=August 22, 2019|access-date=August 22, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Gary Arnold of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' praised Black's performance in the film, writing that "watching her in the movie, you can understand that what she's doing as Joanna ''[sic]'' might depend on the intimacy of the camera to be both witty and credible."<ref name=wp/>

Black next starred in the [[Henry Jaglom]]-directed comedy ''[[Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?]]'' (1983) playing a divorcee who becomes involved with a bachelor,{{sfn|Segrave|Martin|1990|p=88}} followed by a lead in the teen-themed [[black comedy]] ''[[Bad Manners (1984 film)|Bad Manners]]'' (1984).{{sfn|Weldon|1996|p=37}} She also appeared in television during this period, with a guest-starring role as Sheila Sheinfeld on ''[[E/R]]'' between 1984 and 1985. She starred in several feature films in 1985, including the Italian exploitation horror film ''[[Cut and Run (film)|Cut and Run]]'', directed by [[Ruggero Deodato]];{{sfn|Weldon|1996|p=131}} the Canadian supernatural horror film ''[[The Blue Man (film)|The Blue Man]]'';{{sfn|Weldon|1996|p=189}} and the action film ''Savage Dawn'', co-starring with [[Lance Henriksen]] as a kidnappee.{{sfn|Weldon|1996|p=482}}