Award-winning actor Gena Rowlands, whose appearances in “A Woman Under the Influence,” “Gloria” and “The Notebook” were among her many celebrated collaborations with her late husband, John Cassavetes, and their son, Nick, died Wednesday at her home in Indian Wells after a years-long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 94. Rowland’s death was confirmed by the office of Danny Greenberg, Nick Cassavete’s agent at WME.
No other details are available at this time. An often unsung actor of quality and consummate talent, Rowlands earned glowing reviews for her film and TV work — which spanned six decades — especially the projects she worked on with her husband — earning Oscar nominations for her leading roles in his acclaimed 1974 drama “A Woman Under the Influence” and the 1980 crime thriller “Gloria” — and two films directed by her son, “Unhook the Stars” and “The Notebook.” Rowlands embodied tough cookies, glamour girls and grandes dames, with suburban housewives in between.
She shifted easily between John Cassavetes’ shoot-from-the-hip style of filmmaking and the tightly controlled world of network television. “What’s great about being an actress is you don’t just live one life, you live many lives,” Rowlands said on accepting her honorary Oscar in 2015. “You are not just stuck with yourself all of your life.
” Toward the end of her life, Rowlands battled Alzheimer’s disease and its characteristic dementia. In June 20.