Actor Gena Rowlands, who is known for her work in A Woman Under the Influence (1974), and starred in The Notebook (2004), passed away at her home in Indian Wells, California. She was 94. Her death was confirmed by the office of her son’s agent.
ADVERTISEMENT 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 A Woman Under the Influence, written for her and directed by husband John Cassavetes, landed her the first of her two Academy Award nominations. The other nomination was for Gloria (1980), also directed by her husband.
In November 2015, she was given 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 in an interview ahead of the event. After her husband died in 1989, Rowlands continued working as an actor, especially for her children, who became actor-directors.
She took roles in son Nick’s directorial debut, Unhook the Stars (1996), his hit film The Notebook and Yellow (2012), as well as a role in daughter Zoe’s Broken English (2007). Click here!.