Gena Rowlands, the iconic actress known for her role as the older Allie in “The Notebook” and a formative career in John Cassavetes classes like “A Woman Under the Influence” and “Gloria,” has died at the age of 94, according to media reports.
The honorary Oscar winner famously portrayed the elderly version of Rachel McAdams’ character in her son Nick Cassavetes’ 2004 romantic drama opposite the late James Garner. News of her death came two months after Cassavetes revealed his mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis — the same disease her character suffers from in “The Notebook.”
“I got my mom to play older Allie, and we spent a lot of time talking about Alzheimer’s and wanting to be authentic with it, and now, for the last five years, she’s had Alzheimer’s,” he told EW. “She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy — we lived it, she acted it and now it’s on us.”
Rowlands was also a four-time Emmy winner and a two-time Best Actress nominee at the Academy Awards. Those Oscar noms — “A Woman Under the Influence” and “Gloria” — both came from collaborations with her former husband John Cassavetes, of which there were 10. She also had two Golden Globes among many other Hollywood achievements.
In television, Rowlands earned her Primetime Emmys for “The Betty Ford Story,” “Face of a Stranger” and “Hysterical Blindness,” as well as a Daytime Emmy for “The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie.”
She is survived by her husband Robert and three children Nick, Alexandra and Zoe.
TMZ was first to report the news of her death.
