Gena Rowlands, groundbreaking actress and “The Notebook” star, dead at 94 — rest in peace

Gena Rowlands, the acclaimed actress who starred in groundbreaking films with her husband John Cassavetes and later starred in the 2004 film The Notebook, has died at 94.

According to TMZ, she died this afternoon at her home in Indian Wells, California, surrounded by family. While no cause of death was given, Rowlands had been battling Alzheimer’s, her son revealed back in June.

Born June 19, 1930 in Cambria, Wisconsin, she moved to New York City during college to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. There she met her future husband, John Cassavetes. They married in 1954.

Cassavetes directed Rowlands in a number of groundbreaking independent films throughout the ’70s and ’80s. For two of those films — 1974’s A Woman Under the Influence and 1980’s Gloria — she received Academy Award nominations for Best Actress.

These performances — in which Rowlands often portrayed complex and sometimes emotionally unstable women — helped establish Rowlands as one of the best actresses of her generation. Richard Brody of The New Yorker called her “the most important and original movie actor of the past half century-plus.”

To a younger generation, Rowlands is best recognized from her performance as older Allie in the 2004 romantic drama The Notebook, which was directed by her son, Nick Cassavetes.

Rowlands received acclaim for her performance as a woman with Alzheimer’s. It hit close to home for her, because her own mother, the actress Lady Rowlands, also had Alzheimer’s.

“The Notebook … was particularly hard because I play a character who has Alzheimer’s,” Rowlands told O Magazine in 2004. “I went through that with my mother, and if Nick hadn’t directed the film, I don’t think I would have gone for it — it’s just too hard. It was a tough but wonderful movie.”

Sadly, Rowlands would ultimately battle Alzheimer’s herself. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly for The Notebook‘s 20th anniversary in Juune, her son revealed the diagnosis.

“She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy — we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us,” he told EW.

Rowlands received an Honorary Academy Award in 2015: the Academy called her “an original talent whose devotion to her craft has earned her worldwide recognition as an independent film icon.” She also won four Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes.

Rest in peace to the legendary actress Gena Rowlands, who gave us so many great performances ❤️💔

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