The Notebook Actress Gena Rowlands Dead at 94
The acting world is mourning a tragic loss.
Gena Rowlands—the actress who played the older version of Rachel McAdams' character Allie in the 2004 romance classic The Notebook—died on Aug. 14 at her home in Indian Wells, Calif., her son Nick Cassavetes' agent confirmed to Variety. She was 94.
Her cause of death has not been shared.
E! News reached out Gena's and Nick's reps for comment but has not heard back.
Two months before Gena's passing, Nick—who directed The Notebook—shared that his mother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at the age of 88. At the time, he noted the significance of her performance in the Nicholas Sparks adaptation as someone with the same condition.
"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," Nick told Entertainment Weekly in an article published June 25. "She's in full dementia. And it's so crazy—we lived it, she acted it, and now it's on us."
Of course, Gena wasn't only known for her role in The Notebook. After making her film debut in The High Cost of Living in 1958, the actress went on to appear in dozens of TV series and movies, 10 of which were directed by her late husband John Cassavetes, who she married in 1954.
In fact, two of the couple's collaborations—1974's Woman Under the Influence and 1980's Gloria—earned Rowlands Oscars nominations for Best Actress.
And while John passed away in 1989, Gena—who also shares daughters Alexandra Cassavetes and Zoe Cassavetes with the director—had been thrilled to see his passion for film passed down to Nick.
"You'd think Nick would try to distance himself from me to maintain the director-actor balance, but he didn't," she said of working with her son on The Notebook in a 2004 interview with O magazine. "It struck me right then that he was so completely in charge as the director, but at the same time he was able to pull off a lovely show of tenderness and respect toward his mom."
Gena added, "I have a tremendous amount of respect for him, yet I do remember thinking, 'That's my little guy!'"
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