Gena Rowlands, star of ‘The Notebook’ and ‘A Woman Under the Influence,’ dead at 94
By Alli Rosenbloom and Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN
(CNN) — Oscar-nominated actress Gena Rowlands, whose screen career spanned nearly seven decades and more than 100 film and TV credits, has died at 94.
The news was confirmed by the office of agent Danny Greenberg, who represents Rowlands’ son, Nick Cassavetes. No other details were provided.
Rowlands was known for both her work in early independent cinema alongside her first husband, director John Cassavetes, as well as crowd-pleasing titles later in her career, including “Hope Floats” in 1998 opposite Sandra Bullock and the hit film “The Notebook” in 2004.
She was nominated for two Academy Awards, for 1974’s “A Woman Under the Influence and 1980’s “Gloria” — both directed by John Cassavetes.
The actress was also awarded an honorary Oscar in 2015, alongside director Spike Lee, as a recognition of “extraordinary lifetime achievement” in cinema, according to the Academy website.
Though Rowland’s cause of death was not announced, Nick Cassavetes revealed in June that his mother had been living with Alzheimer’s for the last five years. Her mother, actress Lady Rowlands, also struggled with the disease.
The son, who directed “The Notebook,” reflected on his mother’s portrayal in the film of an aging Allie Calhoun as the character struggled 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,” Cassavetes told the publication. “She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy — we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us.”
Rowlands was also directed by Nick Cassavetes in the 1996 film “Unhook the Stars.” Speaking to the Los Angeles Times in 2015, the actress said working with her son was a joy.
“Everyone said it must be hard to work for your son. I guess when you feel loved, everything is easy,” she told the Times.
Born and raised in Wisconsin, Rowlands appeared in a handful of television roles before making her cinematic debut in “The High Cost of Loving” in 1958.
She garnered her first Emmy award for her portrayal of the titular first lady in the 1987 made-for-TV movie “The Betty Ford Story.” Later, she would win two more primetime Emmys for her performances in the 1991 CBS film “Face of a Stranger” and HBO’s 2002 movie “Hysterical Blindness.”
In 2012, she married her second husband, businessman Robert Forrest. She is survived by Forrest, as well as the three children she shared with John Cassavetes: Nick, Alexandra and Zoe Cassavetes.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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