Gena Rowlands, hailed as one of the greatest actors to ever practice the craft and a guiding light in independent cinema as a star in groundbreaking movies by her director husband, John Cassavetes, and later charmed audiences in her son’s tear-jerker The Notebook, has died. She was 94.
Rowlands’ death was confirmed Wednesday by representatives for her son, filmmaker Nick Cassavetes. He revealed earlier this year that his mother had Alzheimer’s disease.
TMZ reported that Rowlands died Wednesday at her home in Indian Wells, Calif.
Operating outside the studio system, the husband-and-wife team of John Cassavetes and Rowlands created indelible portraits of working-class strivers and small-timers in such films as A Woman Under the Influence, Gloria and Faces.
10 films with John Cassavetes
Rowlands made 10 films across four decades with Cassavetes, including Minnie and Moskowitz in 1971, Opening Night in 1977 and Love Streams in 1984.
She earned two Oscar nods for two of them: 1974’s A Woman Under the Influence, in which she played a wife and mother cracking under the burden of domestic harmony, and Gloria in 1980, about a woman who helps a young boy escape the mob.
“He had a particular sympathetic interest in women and their problems in society, how they were treated and how they solved and overcame what they needed to, so all his movies have some interesting women, and you don’t need many,” she told the Associated Press in 2015.
Awarded honorary Oscar
In addition to the Oscar nominations, Rowlands earned three primetime Emmy Awards, one daytime Emmy and two Golden Globes. She was awarded an honorary Academy Award in 2015 in recognition of her work and legacy in Hollywood.
“You know what’s wonderful about being an actress? You don’t just live one life,” she said at the podium. “You live many lives.”
A new generation was introduced to Rowlands in her son’s blockbuster movie The Notebook, in which she played a woman whose memory is ravaged, looking back on a romance for the ages. Her younger self was portrayed by Canadian Rachel McAdams. (Rowlands also appeared in Nick Cassavetes’ Unhook the Stars in 1996.)
In her later years, Rowlands made several appearances in films and TV, including in The Skeleton Key and the detective series Monk.
She and Cassavetes met at the American School of Dramatic Arts when both their careers were beginning. They married four months later.
In 1960 Cassavetes used his earnings from the TV series Johnny Stacatto to finance his first film, Shadows. Partly improvised, shot with natural light on New York locations with a $40,000 US budget, it was applauded by critics for its stark realism.
Worked on stage and television
Rowlands became a seasoned actor through live television drama and tours in The Seven Year Itch and Time for Ginger as well as off-Broadway.
Her big break came when Josh Logan cast her opposite Edward G. Robinson in Paddy Chayefsky’s play Middle of the Night. Her role as a young woman in love with her much older boss resulted in reviews hailing her as a new star.
MGM offered her a contract for two pictures a year. Her first film, a comedy directed by and costarring Jose Ferrer, The High Cost of Loving, brought Rowlands comparisons to one of the great 1930s stars, Carole Lombard.
But she asked to be released from her contract because she was expecting a baby.
Often during her career she would absent herself from the screen for long stretches to attend to family matters. In addition to Nick, she and Cassavetes had two daughters, Alexandra and Zoe, who also pursued acting careers.
