Gena Rowlands, the award-winning U.S. actress best known for her roles in the films of her first husband, director John Cassavetes, passed away on August 15 at the age of 94.
Rowlands died surrounded by family at her home in Indian Wells, California.
While no official cause of death was immediately provided, Rowlands’s son Nick Cassavetes mentioned in June that she had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for the past five years, according to *The New York Times*.
Rowlands starred in 10 of John Cassavetes’ films and was married to him for nearly 35 years, until his death in 1989.
Beginning in the 1960s, the couple formed a captivating and intense on-screen partnership that spanned three decades, delving into themes of passion and self-destruction, often framed by elements of alcohol and infidelity.
Rowlands delivered what many consider her finest performance in *A Woman Under the Influence* (1974), where she portrayed a housewife’s harrowing descent into mental illness, earning her the first of two Oscar nominations.
“Incapable of an unreal moment,” said Woody Allen of the actress, whom he cast in his 1988 film *Another Woman.* “Whatever I say about Gena isn’t enough because she’s so incredible,” said Winona Ryder, quoted in the *LA Times* in 1992, when the two co-starred in Jim Jarmusch’s *Night on Earth.*
Rowlands was born on June 19, 1930, in Cambria, Wisconsin, into a cultured middle-class family. Her father was a state senator, and her mother was a painter and occasional actress.
She enrolled in New York’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts and met Cassavetes, a fast-talking, exuberant Greek-American, in 1953. A year later, they were married.
Their collaboration led to some of Rowlands’s most remarkable performances, the highlight being *A Woman Under the Influence,* which also earned Cassavetes an Oscar nomination for directing.
Rowlands was mesmerizing as Mabel, a housewife who spirals into madness after years of quiet, complex dominance by her hardworking, silent husband, played by Peter Falk.
Cassavetes died in 1989 from liver failure after years of alcoholism. Rowlands continued to act in films and television, winning four Emmys.
She and Cassavetes had three children, all of whom pursued careers in film and television. Her son Nick directed her in *The Notebook* alongside Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams in 2004.
In 2012, Rowlands married retired businessman Robert Forrest, and in 2015, she was awarded an honorary Academy Award, the same year she retired from acting.
