Yesterday, the world said goodbye to classic Hollywood actress Gena Rowlands. Rowlands was known for films like A Woman Under the Influence, Gloria, The Skeleton Key and The Notebook. According to Deadline, Rowlands had passed at her home in Indian Wells, California. The cause of death was not yet announced; however, it is said that she was surrounded by family at the time of passing. The actress had been battling with Alzheimer’s disease for some time.
Rowlands debuted on the film scene with her first film in 1958, The High Cost of Living. She would have numerous titles on her resume that came from both movies and television. She would notably collaborate with her husband, director John Cassavetes, on a number of projects. The star would even garner a couple of Academy Award nominations for her work in the films A Woman Under the Influence and Gloria, which were directed by Cassavetes. Her son, Nick Cassavetes, would also direct her in the popular Ryan Gosling/Rachel McAdams 2004 romantic drama The Notebook, which was adapted from the Nicolas Sparks novel.
Nick Cassavetes spoke about working with her on the film, which involved Rowlands’ character being depicted with Alzheimer’s, “I got my mom to play older Allie, and we spent a lot of time talking about Alzheimer’s and wanting to be authentic with it, and now, for the last five years, she’s had Alzheimer’s. She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy — we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us.”
Rowlands collected accolades for her TV work as well. She had won Primetime Emmys for her roles in The Betty Ford Story, Face of a Stranger and Hysterical Blindness, as well as a Daytime Emmy for The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie. She also earned five more nominations from the Television Academy — the first in 1985 for her part as the mother of a young man with AIDS in the TV movie An Early Frost.