Veteran actress Gena Rowlands has died at the age of 94 after a five-year battle with Alzheimer’s.
The actress died today surrounded by her family and friends.
Nicolas Cassavetes, Gena’s director son, told everyone in June that she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
The man was with family members at her home in Indian Wells, California, when she died, according to TMZ.
Although there is still no official word on what caused Gena’s death, her son said in June that she had been fighting Alzheimer’s for five years and was now showing “full dementia.”
Alzheimer’s also affected her character in “The Notebook,” Allie Hamilton.
Remembering Genea
Fans rushed to social media to react when she died was made public.
Twitter user @FilmUpdates posted a picture of the actress with the words “Gena Rowlands has sadly passed away at the age of 94.”
Fans replied with their condolences.
An admirer wrote, “Watching the Notebook tonight.”
“This is such sad news: RIP,” cried a fourth.
“What a brilliant actress!” “RIP,” wrote a fifth person.
“Wow, super long life,” wrote someone else.
“Not my notebook…grandma,” said someone else.
“This hurts a great deal…Another commenter said, “Rest in peace.”
GENEA’S FIGHT
In June, when filmmakers celebrated The Notebook’s 20th anniversary, Gena’s son talked about her private health battle.
Nick told Entertainment Weekly about how his mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s syndrome.
“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 the paper.
“She has complete dementia.” And now it’s our fault—we lived it, she acted it out.”
Geneva played an older Allie in the 2004 movie, showing how she fought the disease.
Sarah Michelle Gellar played a younger version of Allie.
Following the film’s premiere, Gena shared that the part was especially meaningful to her because her mother also had Alzheimer’s.
Within an interview with O Magazine, she said, “This last one was especially hard because I play a character who has Alzheimer’s.”
It was hard for me to do that with my mom, and I don’t think I would have done it if Nick hadn’t directed the movie. It was a terrific but tough movie.”
Genea’s Legacy
Geneva is best known for her role as Allie in The Notebook, but she has played many other famous characters as well.
Before her big movie debut in 1958’s The High Cost of Loving, she had a lot of TV roles in the 1950s and 1960s.
She played the lead role in Lonely Are the Brave four years later, opposite Kirk Douglas and Walter Matthau.
Gena and John Cassavetes, her late first husband, also made a lot of movies together in the 1960s and 1980s.
Genea’s three children are all named after him: Nick, Alexandra, and Zoe. John died in 1989.
The parents’ three kids are all actors or directors.