Gena Rowlands (1930-2024)

On 14 August 2024, American actress Gena Rowlands died in Indian Wells, Southern California. Rowlands played unforgettable roles in theatre, television series and the cinema. She was nominated for an Oscar for her roles in A Woman Under the Influence (1974) and Gloria (1980), both directed by her husband, John Cassavetes. Gena Rowlands was 94.


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. N. 155.

Leaders in the independent film scene in the 1970s

Virginia Cathryn 'Gena' Rowlands was born in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1930. Rowlands was the daughter of the banker Edwyn Myrwyn Rowlands and his wife, the painter Mary Allen Neal. Gena grew up in Cambria, Wisconsin. In 1939, Edwyn Rowlands was appointed to political office in Washington, D.C. and the family followed him. Three years later, the family moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Gena Rowlands attended Lee High School and then studied at the University of Wisconsin.

She also completed classical acting training at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. There Gena met future actor and filmmaker John Cassavetes. They married in 1954. The couple had three children who also entered the film world. Nick Cassavetes followed in his father's footsteps and also became a director. Alexandra Katherine and Zoe R. Cassavetes are both actresses and directors. Rowlands and Cassavetes remained together until Cassavetes died in 1989.

Gena Rowlands made her stage debut at the Provincetown Playhouse in New York, where she had started as a wardrobe mistress. Rowlands made her first appearance in a television series in 1954 and over the decades has appeared as a guest actress in classic series such as Bonanza, 77 Sunset Strip, The People of Shiloh Ranch and Columbo. She made her Broadway breakthrough at the age of 26 in Paddy Chayefsky's romantic drama 'Middle of the Night (1956). This helped her towards a Hollywood studio contract.

As an MGM contract actress, she debuted in José Ferrer's comedy High Cost of Loving (1958). Four years later, Rowland had the leading female role in the Western Lonely are the Brave (David Miller, 1962) alongside Kirk Douglas. She kept returning to the theatre and began to appear frequently in films directed by her husband John Cassavetes from 1959 onwards. As a couple, Rowlands and Cassavetes were leaders in the independent film scene in the 1970s in the US. Cassavetes was considered a pioneer of cinema vérité, a documentary-style film. Film historian Richard Brody compared their innovative films to the collaboration between Jean-Luc Godard and his former wife Anna Karina.

They made ten films together: A Child Is Waiting (John Cassavetes, 1963) with Judy Garland, Faces (John Cassavetes, 1968), the Italian crime film Gli intoccabili/Machine Gun McCain (Giuliano Montaldo, 1969), Minnie and Moskowitz (John Cassavetes, 1971) with Seymour Cassel, A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes, 1974), Two-Minute Warning (Larry Peerce, 1976) starring Charlton Heston, Opening Night (John Cassavetes, 1977), Gloria (John Cassavetes, (1980), Tempest (Paul Mazursky, 1982) with Susan Sarandon, and Love Streams (John Cassavetes, 1984). Rowlands was nominated for an Oscar for her roles in his films A Woman Under the Influence (1974) and Gloria (1980) but missed out on the Academy Award in both cases.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. S. 63. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

More than 20 film awards

Gena Rowlands remained active into old age. Apart from her husband, she also filmed with many other well-known directors. She played the lead role in Woody Allen's Another Woman (1989) and acted under Jim Jarmusch in Night on Earth (1991). In 1998, she played Sandra Bullock's mother in Hope Floats (Forest Whitaker, 1998). That same year she also made major appearances in Paulie (John Roberts, 1988) and The Mighty (Peter Chelsom, 1998) with Kieran Culkin and Sharon Stone.

Her son Nick Cassavetes also cast the actress in several of his films. One of her best-known later roles was in Nick's romantic drama The Notebook (Nick Cassavetes, 2004) with James Garner and Ryan Gosling. In the film, she plays a woman with dementia. She won a Golden Satellite Award for her role.

During her career, she won more than 20 film awards, including the Silver Bear for Opening Night (John Cassavetes, 1977). She garnered Emmy Awards for her portrayal of the occasionally alcoholic presidential wife Betty Ford in the TV Movie The Betty Ford Story (David Greene, 1987), for Face of a Stranger (Claudia Weill, 1991) and for Hysterical Blindness (Mira Nair, 2002) with Uma Thurman.

In 2015, the then 85-year-old actress received an honorary Oscar in recognition of her entire career. The New Yorker wrote in 2016 about their oeuvre: ‘Together with Rowlands, Cassavetes managed to make independent films with Hollywood influences - not in plot and style but in acting, with allure and dramatic power'.

Surrounded by her family, Gena Rowlands died in her home in Indian Wells, Southern California, on 14 August 2024. She was 94. Her death was confirmed by the impresario of her son, director Nick Cassavetes (65). Cassavetes announced in June that his mother had been suffering from Alzheimer's for several years. Since 2012, she has been married to Robert Forrest.


Dutch postcard. Photo: Universal. Gena Rowlands in The Spiral Road (Robert Mulligan, 1962), based on the novel by Jan de Hartog.

Sources: NOS (Dutch), Wikipedia (Dutch and German) and IMDb.