Gena Rowlands, whose captivating work as the elder and dementia-ridden Allie in The Notebook moved moviegoers, has died at 94.
Rowlands died this afternoon at her home in Indian Wells, California, where she was surrounded by family No cause of death was given, but the retired actress had been battling Alzheimer’s disease, ironic in light of her film role.
She retired from Hollywood in 2015 after earning four Emmy awards, two Golden Globes, and two Oscar nominations. Her Oscar nods included A Woman Under the Influence and Gloria, both borne of collaborations with her former husband, John Cassavetes.
Rowlands won 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.
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Her son, director and actor Nick Cassavetes, spoke to Entertainment Weekly about The Notebook role.
“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,” says the director, whose grandmother, actress Lady Rowlands, also had the disease. “She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy — we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us.”
Survivors include her husband, Robert, and children Nick, Alexandra, and Zoe Cassavetes.
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