Hollywood Headlines: A week in review

Karen Black, a versatile actress whose name became virtually synonymous with films that reflected and helped define America in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including “Five Easy Pieces,” died Thursday in Los Angeles. She was 74.

Diagnosed with ampullary cancer in 2010, Black had sought help from the public earlier this year to cover the cost of her medical treatment. An appeal by her husband, Stephen Eckelberry, on a crowd-sourcing website raised more than $60,000.

Although she had a small part in Dennis Hopper’s groundbreaking 1969 counterculture movie “Easy Rider,” Black was best known for her performance in “Five Easy Pieces,” the 1970 film in which she plays the clingy, ultimately abandoned girlfriend of Jack Nicholson’s character, a brooding dropout from an upper-class life who becomes an oil-field roughneck.  (Larry Bessel / Los Angeles Times)

The “That’s So Raven” actress officially told the Twitterverse she was a lesbian. Well, she didn’t outright say it, but she did say she was grateful more states legalized gay marriage. “I can finally get married! Yay government! So proud of you,” the actress wrote.

In a 2012 incident, rumors emerged that “The Cosby Show” actress was living with openly gay actress and model AzMarie Livingston. Raven set the media straight, tweeting she didn’t want to expose her romantic relationship. As Raven’s best friends Chelsea and Eddie on “That’s So Raven” would say, “Be you, Ray.”   (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Actress Leah Remini of “King of Queens” and formerly of “Saved by the Bell” asked the Los Angeles Police Department to investigate the location of Shelly Miscavige, the wife of Scientology’s church leader David Miscavige. A former Scientologist, Remini reportedly left the church in part because of its strict policies on providing information about leaders’ management.

Remini had asked about Shelley’s absence in 2006 during Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise’s wedding, and Tommy Davis, former head of the Scientology Celebrity Centre, told Remini she didn’t have the “rank” to ask that kind of question. In the end, LAPD located Shelly. Blogger Tony Ortega believes Shelly is in a secret building near the Lake Arrowhead mountains above Los Angeles, also known as the headquarters of the Church of Spiritual Technology.   (Gabriel Bouys / AFP / Getty Images)