Actress Gena Rowlands, who is known for her work in ‘A Woman Under the Influence’, and starred in ‘The Notebook’, passed away at her home in Indian Wells, California.
She died at the age 94. Her death was confirmed by the office of her son’s agent, reports Variety.
In June, Nick Cassavetes, who directed his mother in ‘The Notebook’, shared that the three-time Emmy winner and two-time Oscar nominee had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Rowlands’ role as Mabel Longhetti in the 1974 drama ‘A Woman Under the Influence’, written for her and directed by husband John Cassavetes, landed the actor the first of her two Academy Award nominations.
As per Variety, the other nomination was for ‘Gloria’, also directed by her husband. In November 2015, she was awarded an honorary Academy Award at the annual Governors Awards in recognition of her storied career.
“Working this long? I didn’t even think I’d be living this long,” she confessed to Variety ahead of the event in the roaring, throaty laugh instantly familiar from ‘A Woman Under the Influence’, as well as ‘Faces’, ‘Opening Night’ and other Cassavetes-directed dramas.
After her husband died in 1989, Rowlands continued working as an actor, especially for her own children who became actor-directors. She took roles in son Nick’s directorial debut, ‘Unhook the Stars’, his hit film ‘The Notebook’ and his 2012 effort ‘Yellow’, as well as a role in daughter Zoe’s ‘Broken English’. She also led Terence Davies’ coming-of-age 1995 drama ‘The Neon Bible’, set in 1940’s Georgia.
Early in her career, she made a near-effortless transition from a stock character in Broadway to grande dame. In an early interview. In her acceptance speech at the Governors Awards, she shared that “A lot of women, when they can’t keep doing young romantic roles, don’t want to consider character parts and quit sooner. But I just looked at the scripts and kept seeing what I’d like to do, and never worried about it.”
Rowlands made her film debut in 1958 opposite Jose Ferrer in the light romantic comedy ‘The High Cost of Loving’.