Karen Carlson (born January 15, 1945) is an American actress.
Carlson was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M.W. Carlson, and educated at C.E. Byrd High School and at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, where she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma and represented the university and state of Arkansas in the 1964 Miss America Pageant, finishing first runner up to Vonda Kay Van Dyke.
Carlson started her career in Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller variety shows, Laugh In, and The Hollywood Palace. She also appeared in television series and films, including The Candidate (1972) with Robert Redford, and The Octagon (1980) with Chuck Norris. In television, Carlson played Nancy Scotfield in 10 episodes of the soap opera Dallas (1986) and Sarah Hallisey in twelve episodes of In the Heat of the Night. She was also a series regular in American Dream with Stephen Macht, The Yellow Rose with David Soul and Cybill Shepherd, and Two Marriages with Michael Murphy.