Who is Karen Lynn Gorney and what has happened to her?
Karen Lynn Gorney was born in Beverly Hills, California USA, on 28 January 1945 – her zodiac sign is Aquarius and she holds American nationality. She is an actress who is perhaps best known for her role in the romantic mystery drama “All My Children”, which starred Susan Lucci, David Canary and Michael E. Knight. The story follows Erica Kane living in the made-up city Pine Valley who has changed numerous husbands – the series aired from 1970 to 2011 and was very popular, as it won 191 awards including a Primetime Emmy while it was nominated for 573 others.
Posted by Karen Lynn Gorney on Sunday, 1 September 2013
Childhood and education
Karen was raised alongside her brother Daniel in Beverly Hills, by their father Jay Gorney who was a Polish composer, and who died in 1990, and their mother Sondra Karyl who was a public relations consultant, and who died in 2015. Karen also has a half-brother, Roderic Gorney who is an author and a college professor. She became interested in acting while attending high school, and launched her career at the age of 17 when she portrayed Josette in the drama movie “David and Lisa”, which starred Keir Dullea and Janet Margolin, and follows a young man who is in a mental institution and starting to understand his mental condition.
Even though she had launched her acting career, Karen still focused on her education, and after matriculation in 1963, she enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University from which she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967, and then obtained her Master of Fine Arts degree from Brandeis University in 1969.
Roles in movies
Karen made an uncredited appearance as Alicia in the drama film “The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart” in 1970, and later appeared in the crime drama “The Secret Night Caller” starring Robert Reed and Hope Lange, and which follows a man who is addicted to making obscene phone calls.
In 1977, Karen was invited to star as Stephanie in the musical drama “Saturday Night Fever”, which also starred John Travolta and Barry Miller, and was a huge hit as it won five awards and was nominated for 12 others including an Oscar.
The year 1991 saw her make a cameo appearance in the crime action comedy “The Hard Way”, and a few of her following roles were in the romantic drama “Ripe” in 1996, the critically acclaimed action adventure comedy “Men in Black” in 1997, and the drama “Cradle Will Rock” in 1999. Karen was praised for her portrayal of Sophie Argano in the adventure comedy film “Searching for Bobby D” which was both written and directed by Paul Borghese, and is about four young filmmakers who are trying to get the famous actor Robert DeNiro to invest in their movie.
She starred in her first short movie “George” in 2007, written and directed by Alex Kuciw and also starring John Joseph Galagher and John Keating.
The year 2010 saw her appear in three movies: the drama “The Imperialists Are Still Alive!”, the historical adventure comedy “100 Years of Evil”, and the comedy “Bronx Paradise”.
In 2011, Karen starred as Joanne in Richard Uhlig’s short comedy drama “Can’t Dance”, and then in two other short movies “The Buffalo Kid” and “The Testimony of Erin J”. She portrayed Delores in the horror movie “Night of the Wolf” in 2014, which received mixed reviews, and in 2016, she played a supporting character in the drama “H. O. M. E.” both written and directed by Daniel Maldonado.
Some of Karen’s most recent roles in movies have been in the drama “Tarab” in 2019, the short drama “Marty’s Calling” both written and directed by Toni De Palma in 2020 and the comedy “First One In” in 2020 – she has recently been cast to voice one of the lead characters in the upcoming animated adventure comedy “Clifford the Big Red Dog”, set to be released in November 2021.
Roles in TV series
Karen made her debut TV series appearance in 1969, when she played Student Nurse in a single episode of the romantic drama “The Doctors”, which starred James Pritchett, David O’Brien and Lydia Bruce, and follows Dr. Matt Powers who is working at the Hope Memorial Hospital, and is taking care of the staff and patients with the help of his wife; the series won four awards, including a Primetime Emmy, and was nominated for 19 other awards.
She went on to appear in single episodes of both the action crime drama series “Harry O” in 1975, and the documentary series “Unsolved Mysteries” in 1993, while she also played two characters in two episodes of the crime mystery drama “Law & Order” in 1998.
The year 2006 saw her guest star in the episode “Moe n’ Joe” of the critically acclaimed crime drama “The Sopranos”, which has been rated by the website IMDb as the 14th best TV series of all times, and won 118 awards including five Golden Globes, while it was nominated for 303 other awards.
As she has decided to focus solely on appearing in movies, Karen’s most recent appearance in a TV series has been in 2006, when she appeared as The Waitress in the episode “A New Light” of the drama “Six Degrees”.
Music career
Karen is also a singer, who released her debut album “Used To Love You Madly” in 2002, comprising 12 songs including “You’re My Thrill” and “I’ll Never Leave Again”.
Her second album made up of 10 songs followed on 12 April 2005, entitled “Hot Moonlight!” Karen’s most recent album “The Dance of the Deadly’s” was released in 2008 and comprised 11 songs.
In the ‘70s, Karen was a member of the jazz funk band Wendigo, and they performed all around the US.
Love life and husband
Karen married her first husband, film producer and production manager Ken Golden, sometime in the ‘70s, and they have kept the date of their wedding a secret to this day – they divorced a couple of years later and have been keeping that date a secret as well. Karen met the non-celebrity man Mark Toback back in 1987 when they were introduced by a mutual friend, and they stayed good friends until early 1990s when Mark asked her out on a date – they married in a private ceremony attended by their closest friends and family in July 1995, and have since been leading a seemingly happy life together.
Both Karen and Mark have agreed not to have children, as they want to focus on their careers.
Karen hasn’t talked about any other men she might have dated before meeting her first husband, and before she started dating Mark, so as of September 2020, she is married to her second husband and doesn’t have children.
Hobbies and other interests
Karen is an avid dancer, who took dancing lessons for many years while she was still a teenager, as well as later in her early 20s.
She is an artist who has worked for several art galleries, and is currently working for Circle Fine Arts.
Karen is a fan of cartoons, and was at one point a manager of a store at which Gary Dell’Abate bought himself the ‘Baba Booey’ cell.
Travelling is also one of Karen’s many hobbies and she has been all around the US to shoot for her movies and TV series and has also been to Europe on many occasions, visiting countries such as France and England.
Karen has her own favorite actors and actresses, some of whom are Matt Damon, Robert DeNiro and Angelina Jolie, and a few of her favorite movies are the trilogy “The Godfather”, “Catch Me If You Can” and “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”.
Net worth
Karen’s age is 75. She has long brown hair and brown eyes, her height is 5ft 3ins (1.6m) and she weighs around 112lbs (51kgs).
As of September 2020, her net worth has been estimated at over $1 million.