‘The Notebook’ Actress Gena Rowlands Dies at 94

Two-time Academy Award-nominated actress Gena Rowlands has passed away at 94.

Rowlands, famous for her leading roles in 1974’s A Woman Under the Influence and 1980’s Gloria, died on Wednesday, Aug. 14. According to TMZ, she was at her home in Indian Wells, Calif., surrounded by some family members.

Her son, Nick Cassavetes, had recently provided an update on Rowlands’ health in an interview with Entertainment Weekly earlier this summer. He noted that Rowlands had been battling Alzheimer’s disease for the past five years, a condition also suffered by her mother, actress Lady Rowlands.

One of Rowlands’ most memorable roles in recent years was in the 2004 film The Notebook, where she played an older version of Rachel McAdams’ character, Allie Hamilton. Her character’s struggle with dementia in the film was particularly poignant, given her own battle with Alzheimer’s. As Cassavetes remarked to EW, “We lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us.”

Born in 1930, Rowlands began her acting career in New York during the 1950s. Much of her early work involved collaborations with her filmmaker husband, John Cassavetes. The couple shared three children: Nick, Alexandra, and Zoe. After John’s death in 1989, Rowlands remarried in 2012 to Robert Forrest, who TMZ reported was among those present at her time of passing.

Recognized for her extensive and impactful film career, Rowlands was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2015. The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences praised her as “an original talent whose devotion to her craft has earned her worldwide recognition as an independent film icon.”

The exact cause of Rowlands’ death has not been publicly disclosed.

Source: TMZ, Entertainment Weekly