‘Notebook’ Star Gena Rowlands Passes Away at 94 Following Alzheimer’s Diagnosis Revealed by Family

Gena Rowlands, who was well recognized for her significant contributions to the cinema and television industries, passed away at the age of 94, Variety disclosed on Wednesday, August 14. It took some time for her cause of death to become known.

According to TMZ, the Opening Night actress passed away in her Indian Wells, California, home surrounded by her loved ones.

Her son Nick Cassavetes, who directed her in The Notebook, had previously disclosed that his mother’s health had deteriorated in the months before her passing. He was seen several times at his mother’s house prior to her passing, according to TMZ.

“My mother has had Alzheimer’s for the last five years, and we’ve spent a lot of time talking about it and wanting to be authentic with it,” he revealed to Entertainment Weekly in June of his mother’s illness. “I got my mom to play older Allie,” he also added. Her dementia is complete. We lived it, she acted it out, and now it’s all on us. It’s ridiculous.”

Nick also remembered how shocked his mother had been during reshoots for the movie with James Garner.

“Let me set the record straight,” she stated. Because of my performance, we’re reshooting,” he revealed. We reshoot, and this time it’s one of those situations where mom gets mad, so I asked, ‘Can you do it, mom?’ “I can do anything,” she replies, he said.

“On my father’s life, I swear to you that this is accurate: She started crying as soon as she spotted [Garner], and tears were streaming out of her eyes. And I thought, all right, we got that. That was the only incident I had difficulty with on set.

In the end, he was happy that he and his mother had the chance to collaborate on such a significant movie in 2004.

“Hearing how much time has passed is always startling, but it makes sense. On the 20th anniversary of the movie, he told the publication, “I’m just glad that it exists.” “I’m really proud of it, and it seems to have worked.”

Rowlands was inspired to play Allie after disclosing that her mother had battled the illness twenty years prior.

She remarked in 2004 that “this last one, The Notebook, which is based on the Nicholas Sparks novel, was particularly hard because I play a character who has Alzheimer’s.” It’s just too difficult, so even though I went through it with my mother, I doubt I would have pursued it if Nick hadn’t directed the movie. It was a challenging yet fantastic film.

Rowlands leaves behind her children, Zoe and Alexandra Cassavetes, whom she had with her first husband John Cassavetes, in addition to Nick. In 2012, she tied the knot with Robert Forrest, her second husband.

She worked on several films with her first spouse, such as Gloria and A Woman Under the Influence, for which she was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Actress. What If God Were the Sun and Hysterical Blindness were two more noteworthy pieces.