RIP Gena Rowlands

 

Gena Rowlands, 'The Notebook' Actress, Dead at 94

Entertainment Tonight

By Paige Gawley

August 14, 2024

 

Gena Rowlands is best known for playing the older version of Rachel McAdams' 'The Notebook' character.

Gena Rowlands has died. The actress, best known for her role in The Notebook, died at her California home on Aug. 14, TMZ reports. She was 94.

Per the outlet, both Rowlands' husband, Robert Forrest, and daughter, Alexandra Cassavetes, were by her side when she died. Rowlands son, The Notebook director Nick Cassavetes, has been at his mom's house throughout the week, the outlet reports.

Rowlands shares Alexandra and Nick, as well as daughter Zoe, with her first husband, John Cassavetes, who died in 1989. She married Forrest in 2012.

A cause of death has yet to be determined. ET has reached out to Rowlands' rep for comment.

Rowlands' death comes two months after Nick revealed his mom was battling Alzheimer's disease. It's the same condition that Rowlands' The Notebook character, the older version of Rachel McAdams' Allie, suffers from.

"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," Nick told Entertainment Weekly. "She's in full dementia. And it's so crazy -- we lived it, she acted it, and now it's on us."

The Emmy-winning actress' last credited role was in 2017 for the short Unfortunate Circumstances. In addition to her role in The Notebook, she also had memorable roles in Hope Floats, The Skeleton Key, Paris, I Love You, Something to Talk About, and much more. She has a total of 106 acting credits to her name.

ROWLANDS, Gena (Virginia Cathryn Rowlands)

Born: 6/19/1930, Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

Died: 8/14/2024, Indian Wells, California, U.S.A.

 

Gena Rowlands’ westerns – actress:

Laramie (TV) – 1959 (Laurel DeWalt)

Riverboat (TV) – 1959 (Rose Trayner)

Lonely are the Brave – 1962 (Jerry Bondi)

Bonanza (TV) – 1963 (Ragan Miller)

The Virginian (TV) – 1963 (Savannah)

The Road West (TV) – 1967 (Karen Collier)

Montana (TV) – 1990 (Bess Guthrie)