R.I.P. To An Icon: Legendary Actress Passes Away At 94 After Battle With Dementia
Gena Rowlands, the esteemed American actress known for her memorable performances in *The Notebook* and *Another Woman*, has passed away at 94. She died at her residence in Indian Wells, California. While the exact cause of death was not disclosed, it has been reported that she had been battling Alzheimer’s disease.
Rowlands retired from acting in 2015, capping off a distinguished career that included four Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Oscar nominations—one for *A Woman Under the Influence* in 1974 and another for *Gloria* in 1980. Both films were the result of her collaborations with her then-husband, John Cassavetes.
Her Emmy-winning roles included *The Betty Ford Story*, *Face of a Stranger*, *Hysterical Blindness*, and *The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie*. Originally from Wisconsin, Rowlands moved to New York, where she made her Broadway debut in *The Seven Year Itch* and later starred in *Middle of the Night* in 1956.
In 2015, Rowlands received an honorary Academy Award in recognition of her extensive and impactful acting career. Reflecting on her career, she remarked to Variety, “Working this long? I didn’t even think I’d be living this long.”
Her filmography also includes significant roles in *Faces*, *Opening Night*, *Unhook the Stars*, *Yellow*, *Broken English*, *Hope Floats*, *Tempest*, *The Brink’s Job*, *Tony Rome*, and *The Neon Bible*.
*The Notebook*, a film directed by her son Nick Cassavetes in 2004, featured Rowlands portraying a character grappling with dementia. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Nick Cassavetes spoke about how his mother’s portrayal of Alzheimer’s in the film became a painful reality in the last five years of her life. “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 shared. “She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy — we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us.”
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