American actress Gena Rowlands, renowned for her roles in The Notebook and Another Woman, has passed away at the age of 94.
Rowlands, who was nominated for an Oscar for A Woman Under the Influence (1974) and Gloria (1980), died at her home in Indian Wells, California.
Reports indicate that she had been suffering from Alzheimer’s, although no official cause of death was provided.
She retired from acting in 2015 after a distinguished career that included four Emmys, two Golden Globes, and two Oscar nominations.
Her Emmy wins were for The Betty Ford Story, Face of a Stranger, Hysterical Blindness, and The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie.
Both A Woman Under the Influence and Gloria were notable collaborations with her former husband, John Cassavetes.
Born in Wisconsin, Rowlands began her career on Broadway, including a role in the debut of The Seven Year Itch. She also starred in the 1956 Broadway play Middle of the Night.
In 2015, she was honored with an honorary Academy Award in recognition of her extensive and influential acting career.
“Working this long? I didn’t even think I’d be living this long,” she recently told Variety.
She also starred in films Faces, Opening Night, Unhook the Stars, Yellow and Broken English, Hope Floats, Tempest, The Brink’s Job, Tony Rome and The Neon Bible.
The Notebook was directed in 2004 by her son Nick Cassavetes, who recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly about how his mother played a character suffering from dementia.
“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 said.
“She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy — we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us.”