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Gena Rowlands, the award-winning actress known for her roles in films such as A Woman Under the Influence, Gloria, and The Notebook, has died at the age of 94.
Rowlands died Wednesday, August 14th, at her home in Indian Wells, California, according to TMZ. She had been battling Alzheimer’s disease.
Hailing from Cambria, Wisconsin, Rowlands originally got her start in theater, studying drama at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. Upon graduating, she starred in several repertory productions before making her Broadway debut in The Seven Year Itch. She later starred in the Broadway play Middle of the Night.
Beginning in the mid-1950s, Rowlands transitioned to a career in television. She starred in the syndicated television series Top Secret and made guest appearances on shows including Laramie, Riverboat, 77 Sunset Strip, and Dr. Kildare. She also appeared on several episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
However, Rowlands’ big break came in 1962 when she starred opposite Kirk Douglas and Walter Matthau in the feature film Lonely Are the Brave. The following year, she teamed up with her husband, actor-director John Cassavetes, on A Child Is Waiting, which marked the first of 10 films that they would make together.
Notably, the Cassavantes-directed films A Woman Under the Influence and Gloria both earned Rowlands nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Rowlands’ other notable film roles included Opening Night (also directed by Cassavetes); Woody Allen’s Another Women; and the made-for-TV movie The Betty Ford Story, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress. In 2004, she starred in The Notebook, which was directed by her son, Nick Cassavetes.
Over the course of her 65-year career, Rowlands received four Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, and two National Board of Review Awards, as well as two Academy Award nominations. In 2015, she was presented with an honorary Academy Award, recognizing her as an “original talent whose devotion to her craft has earned her worldwide recognition as an independent film icon.”
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