Gena Rowlands died on Wednesday at her home in Indian Wells, California. The actress, who suffered from Alzheimer’s, was one of the last great divas to mark American independent cinema between 1960 and 1980. She starred in a dozen films directed by her husband, the actor John Cassavetes. For younger generations, Rowlands is a familiar face thanks to her role in The Notebook (Noah’s diary), the 2004 blockbuster starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams and directed by her son, Nick Cassevetes. Gena Rowlands was 94.
The news of the death was first reported by the entertainment media TMZ. The death was confirmed by her family, who were present at the home of the prolific actress and her second husband on Wednesday. Nick Cassavetes revealed in June, during an interview with Entertainment Weeklythat his mother suffered from Alzheimer’s, a degenerative condition that affects brain cells.
“I got my mother to play an older Allie (the role of Rachel McAdam), and we spent a lot of time talking about Alzheimer’s and how her role could feel authentic. And now, for the last five years, she’s been suffering from this disease,” said Nick Cassavetes, who was speaking about the 20 years since the release of the romantic film. “She has senile dementia (…) it’s incredible what we lived through, how she acted it out and now it weighs on her,” the director, who also directed his mother in his first film, told the magazine. Unhook the stars (1996).
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Rowlands an honorary Oscar in 2015, recognizing her career as a character with intense inner worlds, mannerisms and, at times, exaggerated forms. The actress collected the award in November of that year at a special ceremony where director Spike Lee and actress Debbie Reynolds of the same name were also honored. Singing in the rain.
Cassavetes and Rowlands began dating in 1954. They married after dating for four months and were never apart until the director died of cirrhosis in 1989. The marriage was a tough one. The two had a tempestuous relationship full of fights and misunderstandings, according to American critic Ray Carney in the famous book Cassavetes by Cassavetes (Anagram, 2004)“She and I had some friction regarding lifestyle and tastes. We didn’t agree on anything at all,” the director admitted. Both brought to the screen such couple dynamics.
But the union left behind a considerable joint filmography, a dozen titles from a school of new realism that are compulsory material for any film lover. The list includes, among others, Faces (Faces), Opening Night (Opening night), Love Streams (Currents of love), Shadows (Shades), Minnie and Moskowitz (This is how love speaks) and the 1974 classic, A woman under the influence (A woman under the influence), alongside Peter Falk, the actor who made Detective Columbo famous.
Deserves special mention Glorya 1980 thriller that Cassavetes wrote for Rowlands but intended for someone else to direct. The project, about a mother hunted by the New York mob, fell into her hands and became another of the couple’s critically acclaimed works. It won the Golden Lion at Venice that year.
Rowlands was nominated in her country for Glory for Best Actress at the 1981 Oscars, but lost to Sissy Spacek, who starred in the biopic of country singer Loretta Lynn. It was the second and last nomination for Rowlands, who also aspired to the statuette for A woman under the influence, Perhaps the duo’s most famous collaboration, in the film a construction worker (Falk) is forced to cancel a date with his wife, Mabel (Rowlands), an event that may seem small, but it sets in motion internal tensions within the marriage with three children.
“I really liked that script. It was a very difficult role, but I like difficult roles,” Rowlands told Los Angeles Times in 2015, referring to A woman under the influencefor which Cassavetes also managed to be nominated for Best Director (he also lost).
Born in Minnesota, Rowlands arrived in New York in 1950 to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, located in Carnegie Hall. But the experience was short-lived. The actress left the institution a year later because she could not afford it. Her stay was enough to change her life, as it was there that she first saw Cassavetes, although their romance would come four years later.
Her big screen debut was in 1958 in the Puerto Rican José Ferrer film, The High Cost of Living. Plays, films and television series would follow. Rowlands won three Emmy Awards and several national and international critical accolades. “I was always very lucky, but I didn’t necessarily deserve it,” Rowlands humbly said in a 2016 interview about her career.
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