Gena Rowlands, considered one of the greatest actresses of all time and a model of independent cinema, starred in groundbreaking films by her director husband, John Cassavetes, and later charmed audiences in her son’s moving film, “The Notebook,” has died at the age of 94.
Rowlands’ death was confirmed to CBS News by a representative for her son, filmmaker Nick Cassavetes. He revealed earlier this year that his mother had Alzheimer’s disease.
Working outside the studio system, husband-and-wife team John Cassavetes and Rowlands created indelible portraits of working-class people and small businessmen in films such as “A Woman Under the Influence,” “Gloria” and “Faces.”
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Rowlands made 10 films over four decades with Cassavetes, including “Minnie and Moskowitz” in 1971, “Opening Night” in 1977 and “Love Streams” in 1984.
She was nominated for two Oscars for two of them: “A Woman Under the Influence” in 1974, in which she played a wife and mother who cracks under the burden of domestic harmony, and “Gloria” in 1980, about a woman who helps a young boy escape the mafia.
“He had a particular interest in women and their problems in society, how they were treated and how they solved and overcame what they needed, so all of his films have interesting women, and it doesn’t take many,” she told the AP in 2015.
In addition to her Oscar nominations, Rowlands has won three Primetime Emmy Awards, a Daytime Emmy and two Golden Globes. She received an honorary Oscar in 2015 in recognition of her work and legacy in Hollywood. “You know what’s wonderful about acting? You don’t live one life,” she told the panel. “You live many lives.”
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A new generation discovered Rowlands in her son’s hit film, “The Notebook,” in which she plays a woman with a ravaged memory who recalls a centuries-old love affair. Rachel McAdams plays her in her youth. (She also appeared in Nick Cassavetes’ 1996 film “Unhook the Stars.”)
In her later years, Rowlands made several film and television appearances, including in “The Skeleton Key” and the crime series “Monk.” Her last film appearance was in 2014, as a pensioner who befriends her gay dance teacher in “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks.”
One of her career triumphs was “The Influence” (1974), in which she played a lower-middle-class housewife who, according to the actress, “was totally vulnerable and generous; she had no sense of her own worth.” In “Gloria” (1980), she played a decrepit dancer threatened by her ex-boyfriend, a mob boss. She received Academy Award nominations for Best Actress for both performances.
She and Cassavetes met at the American School of Dramatic Arts when their respective careers were just beginning. They married four months later. In 1960, Cassavetes used the earnings from the Johnny Stacatto television series to finance his first film, Shadows. Partly improvised, shot in natural light on New York sets on a budget of $40,000, the film was lauded by critics for its striking realism.
Gena (pronounced Jenna) Rowlands became a seasoned actress through live television and touring roles in “The Seven Year Itch” and “Time for Ginger” as well as off-Broadway.
Her big break came when she starred opposite Edward G. Robinson in Paddy Chayefsky’s play Middle of the Night, starring Josh Logan. Her role as a young woman in love with her much older boss earned her critics acclaim as a new star.
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MGM offered her a contract for two pictures a year. Her first film, a comedy directed by and starring José Ferrer, “The High Cost of Loving,” earned her comparisons to one of the great stars of the 1930s, Carole Lombard.
But she asked to be released from her contract because she was expecting a child. During her career, she often took long periods of time off the screen to deal with family matters.
In addition to Nick, a director (“Alpha Dog,” “My Sister’s Keeper”) and actor, she and Cassavetes had two daughters, Alexandra and Zoe, who also pursued acting careers.
John Cassavetes died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1989, and Rowlands returned to acting to ease her grief. In between assignments, she occasionally attended film festivals and screenings of Cassavetes’ films.
“I want everyone to see his films,” she said at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 1992. “John was one of a kind, the most fearless person I have ever known. He had a very special vision of life and the individuality of people.”
Virginia Cathryn Rowlands was born in 1930 (some sources give a later date) in Cambria, Wisconsin, where her Welsh ancestors had settled in the early 19th century. Her father was a banker and state senator. She was a reserved child who loved books and imaginary stories. Her mother encouraged the young girl’s ambition to become an actress.
Rowlands dropped out of the University of Wisconsin as a sophomore to pursue an acting career in New York City. Like other actors of her generation, she gained invaluable experience in the burgeoning television series industry of the 1950s, appearing on every major series.
After leaving her MGM contract, she was able to choose her film roles. When nothing else appealed to her, she appeared in such television series as “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “Bonanza,” “Dr. Kildare” and “The Virginian.” One of the pleasures of her career was co-starring with her idol Bette Davis in the 1979 TV movie “Strangers.”
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Other films include Lonely Are the Brave with Kirk Douglas, The Spiral Road (Rock Hudson), A Child Is Waiting (with Burt Lancaster and Judy Garland, directed by Cassavetes), Two Minute Warning (Charlton Heston), Tempest (with Cassavetes and Molly Ringwald, in her screen debut) and the do-gooder mother in Paul Schrader’s 1987 study of a working-class family, Light of Day.
In middle age and beyond, Rowlands continued to play demanding roles. In Woody Allen’s stark drama “Another Woman,” she was cast as a writer whose life was shielded from emotion until terrible events forced her to confront her feelings. In the groundbreaking TV movie “An Early Frost,” she appeared as a mother confronting her son’s AIDS.
Rowlands said in 1992 that her roles remained etched in her memory.
“Sometimes, on those sleepless nights when I have no sleep and a lot of time to think about everything, I look at different possibilities of different characters and what they could do now,” she said.
