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Gena Rowlands, the acclaimed actress known for her captivating roles in A Woman Under the Influence and The Notebook, passed away at the age of 94.

Rowlands died in the afternoon at her home in Indian Wells, California, on August 14, surrounded by her family.

While no official cause of death was provided, it is known that the retired actress had been battling Alzheimer’s, a poignant connection to her role as the elder Allie in The Notebook.

Per Variety, her passing was confirmed by the office of her son’s agent.

According to NPR, in 1950, Rowlands moved to New York to study acting at the American Academy of the Dramatic Arts, where she met fellow student John Cassavetes.

However, she eventually left the academy and started her professional acting career, making her stage debut in a minor role in Paddy Chayefsky’s Middle of the Night on Broadway.

Gena Rowlands’ son...

Gena Rowlands, whose illustrious career saw her star in A Woman Under the Influence, Gloria, and The Notebook, died Wednesday at the age of 94.

The actress died at her home in Indian Wells and her death was confirmed by the office of her son’s agent, Variety confirmed. In June, her son, The Notebook director Nick Cassavetes, shared the news that his mother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. In the film, Rowlands famously played the older version of Allie, Rachel McAdams’ character, who was also suffering from dementia.

Whenever an actor passes away, the expression "greatest to ever do it" is often tossed around. In the case of four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner Gena Rowlands, the legendary star of the stage, television, and film with a career spanning nearly seven decades, the expression feels somewhat inadequate. Her presence on screen was unwavering and incomparable, a captivating presence who could express a character's entire life story with the lift of an eyebrow or the lighting of a cigarette. She was the type of performer that actors aspired to be more like, and displayed an authentic sense of vulnerability that few have come close to matching. Her passing was first reported by TMZ. She was 94.

Rowlands was graced with an honorary Oscar in 2015, a year after her final on-screen performance. She had been nominated twice before, and one could easily argue that she should have taken home the statue both times.

Gena Rowlands, whose seminal and fearless performance in “A Woman Under the Influence” inspired a generation and who starred in many other John Cassavetes features as well as the romance “The Notebook,” died Wednesday at her home in Indian Wells, Calif. She was 94.

Her death was confirmed by the office of her son’s agent. 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 the 1974 drama “A Woman Under the Influence,” written for her and directed by husband John Cassavetes, landed the actor the first of two Academy Award nominations. The other nom was for “Gloria” (1980), also directed by her husband. In November 2015, she was awarded an honorary Academy Award at the annual Governors Awards in recognition of her storied career.

“Working this long? I didn...

Gena Rowlands, the iconic actress known for her role as the older Allie in “The Notebook” and a formative career in John Cassavetes classes like “A Woman Under the Influence” and “Gloria,” has died at the age of 94, according to media reports.

The honorary Oscar winner famously portrayed the elderly version of Rachel McAdams’ character in her son Nick Cassavetes’ 2004 romantic drama opposite the late James Garner. News of her death came two months after Cassavetes revealed his mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis — the same disease her character suffers from in “The Notebook.”

“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,” he told EW. “She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy — we lived it, she acted it...

Gena Rowlands, the two-time Oscar-nominated star of Gloria and A Woman Under The Influence as well as The Notebook, has died. She was 94.

Rowlands earned widespread renown for her performance as a mother wrestling with mental illness in husband John Cassavetes’ 1974 drama A Woman Under The Influence, for which she won a Golden Globe.

She received her second lead actress Academy Award nomination in 1981 as a tough woman who protects her neighbour from The Mob in Cassavetes’ Gloria.

Rowlands had met Cassavetes in her early television days. They were married in 1954 and went on to make 10 films together.

In 2004 Rowlands...

Gena Rowlands, the two-time Oscar-nominated star of Gloria and A Woman Under The Influence, has died. She was 94.

Rowlands earned widespread renown for her performance as a mother wrestling with mental illness in husband John Cassavetes’ 1974 drama A Woman Under The Influence, for which she won a Golden Globe.

She received her second lead actress Academy Award nomination in 1981 as a tough woman who protects her neighbour from The Mob in Cassavetes’ Gloria.

Rowlands had met Cassavetes in her early television days. They were married in 1954 and went on to make 10 films together.

In 2004 Rowlands starred in her son Nick...

Gena Rowlands is the Ocar-nominated thespian who made a name for herself thanks to a series of manic, high-wire performances in several films, many of them directed by her late husband, indie maverick John Cassavetes. But how many of her titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at 12 of Rowlands’s greatest films, ranked worst to best.

After making a name for herself with bit parts onstage and onscreen, Rowlands flourished when she became the muse of Cassavetes, who she married in 1954. A fellow performer, Cassavetes would raise money from appearing in movies like “The Dirty Dozen” (1967) and “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968), immediately funneling the funds into his own projects. His wife was usually front and center, as were their family members and friends.

Rowlands’s operatic performances were a perfect match for her husband’s improvisational, energetic films, including “Faces” (1968), “Minnie and Moskowitz” (1971), “Opening Night” (1977) and “Love Streams” (1984). Her...

While Glenn Close has yet to win an Oscar, she is your overwhelming choice to receive the 2023 Screen Actors Guild life achievement award. We recently hosted a poll about which actress should be selected for the prestigious SAG honor. Over 2,000 people voted worldwide, with 49.27 choosing Close. Following her in second place was Meryl Streep with 29.56. See full poll results below.

The 2022 recipient of the honor was Dame Helen Mirren. There was no award given in 2021, but it was three men in a row before then (see list below). The following living people have already received this award and wouldn’t be chosen again (year referenced is from the ceremony; actors and actresses included): Joanne Woodward (1986), Robert Redford (1996), Angela Lansbury (1997), Clint Eastwood (2003), Julie Andrews (2007), James Earl Jones (2009), Dick Van Dyke (2013), Rita Moreno (2014), Carol Burnett (2016), Lily Tomlin (2017), Morgan Freeman (2018), Alan Alda (2019) and Robert De Niro (2020).

Seesag Life Achievement award: Full gallery...

The Screen Actors Guild will most likely be announcing their life achievement award recipient for 2023 in the near future. Who do you think should be taking home this prestigious trophy chosen by the SAG-AFTRA committee?

The 2022 recipient of the honor was Dame Helen Mirren. There was no award given in 2021, but it was three men in a row before then (see list below). Take our poll below and make your best guess on the selection. All 10 of these actresses in the poll have two things in common with typical decisions by this committee: at least 65 years old with a history of charitable and/or humanitarian works. Coming soon: we will offer a poll for actors in the near future.

Seesag Life Achievement award: Full gallery of recipients since 1995

The following living people have already received this award and wouldn’t be chosen again (year referenced is from the ceremony; actors...

The stage, TV and screen actress is best known for her stellar work on ten films directed by her husband John Cassavetes which started with “A Child Is Waiting” (1963), “Shadows” (1959) and “Faces” (1968) and continued through two Oscar-nominated performances in "Woman Under the Influence" (pictured, 1975) and "Gloria" (1981); their last film together was “Love Streams” (1984). The Lafca gave Cassavetes the career achievement award in 1986--this is the first husband and wife team to be so rewarded in the group's 40 year history. Rowlands began her career on the New York stage in the mid-1950s and moved to television, marryingCassavetes in 1954 and made 10 films with him, from Rowlands won four Emmys --“The Betty Ford Story” (1987), “Face of a Stranger” (1991), “Hysterical Blindness” (2003) and “The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie” (2004)--and two Golden Globes (“The Betty Ford Story” and “A Woman Under the Influence.")....

A Woman Under The Influence 40th Anniversary Screening In Los Angeles

By Todd Garbarini

Probably the best known film of the late film director John Cassavetes’ career, A Woman Under the Influence (1974) is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a screening at the Landmark Theatre at 10850 West Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles, CA 90064 on Wednesday, May28th at 7:00 pm. The film’s star, actress Gena Rowlands, is scheduled to appear in person.

From the press release:

In Person!

An Evening with

Star Gena Rowlands!

Director John Cassavetes'

A Woman Under the Influence (1974)

40th Anniversary!

Wednesday, May 28 at 7:00pm

at The Landmark

A Woman Under the Influence received two Oscar© nominations in 1974—best actress Gena Rowlands and best director John Cassavetes. The film tells the story of a wife and mother whose unstable behavior leads her husband (Peter Falk) to commit her to a mental institution. At the time of its release,...

Network DVD have been trawling the forgotten archives of British TV, and have come up with a bizarre series of detective stories made from 1969 to 1970, and set in London in the 1920's. They feature Hugh Burden as Mr. J. G. Reeder, a shy civil servant who's really a super sleuth. I couldn't believe I'd missed it, so I was very happy to step into the Shadowlocked time machine to check it out.

The writer of the original stories from which the show is dramatised is Edgar Wallace, a classic name to men of a certain age. My father recounted to me the story of the man himself, forced into a life of production-line detective creativity by his own dire financial circumstances. I spent my youth watching Tales Of Edgar Wallace 1 hour black & white stories, drenched in atmosphere and usually with a twist in the tale, sometimes absurdly unbelievable, and sometimes emotionally shocking.