Gena Rowlands

American actress

Also known as: Virginia Cathryn Rowlands

Written by Melinda C. Shepherd

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Article History

Quick Facts

Byname of:: Virginia Cathryn Rowlands

Born:: June 19, 1930, Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.

Died:: August 14, 2024, Indian Wells, California (aged 94)

Awards And Honors:: Emmy Award (2002); Emmy Award (1991); Emmy Award (1987); Honorary Award of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (2016); Emmy Award (2003): Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie; Emmy Award (1992): Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special; Emmy Award (1987): Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special; Golden Globe Award (1988): Best Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television; Golden Globe Award (1975): Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Notable Family Members:: spouse John Cassavetes

Movies/Tv Shows (Acted In):: "The United States Steel Hour" (1955); "Gloria" (1980); "Lonely Are the Brave" (1962); "Ghost Story" (1972); "The Notebook" (2004); "Johnny Staccato" (1959); "Laramie" (1959); "Garrison's Gorillas" (1968); "The Brink's Job" (1978); "Once Around" (1991); "The Lloyd Bridges Show" (1963); "Run for Your Life" (1966); "The Islanders" (1961); "Peyton Place" (1967); "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre" (1963); "Opening Night" (1977); "Taking Lives" (2004); "Breaking Point" (1963); "The Virginian" (1963); "Light of Day" (1987); "Goodyear Television Playhouse" (1955); "Appointment with Adventure" (1955); "87th Precinct" (1961–1962); "Numb3rs" (2006); "Adventures in Paradise" (1960); "Another Woman" (1988); "Unhook the Stars" (1996); "Target: The Corruptors" (1961); "Tony Rome" (1967); "Tempest" (1982); "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" (1962–1964); "Night on Earth" (1991); "Markham" (1959); "Monk" (2009); "Kraft Suspense Theatre" (1963–1965); "Faerie Tale Theatre" (1983); "Faces" (1968); "Dr. Kildare" (1964); "Top Secret" (1954); "The Tab Hunter Show" (1960); "She's So Lovely" (1997); "Two-Minute Warning" (1976); "Minnie and Moskowitz" (1971); "NCIS" (2010); "A Woman Under the Influence" (1974); "77 Sunset Strip" (1963); "Burke's Law" (1964); "Kraft Television Theatre" (1955); "Riverboat" (1959); "Paulie" (1998); "Persepolis" (2007); "Parts Per Billion" (2014); "The Dick Powell Show" (1963); "Something to Talk About" (1995); "Yellow" (2012); "Paris, je t'aime" (2006); "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks" (2014); "Medical Center" (1971–1973); "A Child Is Waiting" (1963); "The Mighty" (1998); "The High Cost of Loving" (1958); "Playing by Heart" (1998); "The Weekend" (1999); "Armstrong Circle Theatre" (1955); "Marcus Welby, M.D." (1974); "Ted & Venus" (1991); "The Road West" (1967); "Silent Cries" (1993); "Columbo" (1975); "The Skeleton Key" (2005); "Love Streams" (1984); "Studio One" (1955); "Robert Montgomery Presents" (1955); "The Spiral Road" (1962); "General Electric Theater" (1958); "Bonanza" (1963); "The Way of the World" (1955); "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (1960); "Gli intoccabili" (1969); "Broken English" (2007); "Hope Floats" (1998); "The Long, Hot Summer" (1966); "Olive" (2011); "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E." (1967); "The Neon Bible" (1995)

Gena Rowlands (born June 19, 1930, Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.—died August 14, 2024, Indian Wells, California) was an American actress who was perhaps best known for the 10 films she made with her husband, director John Cassavetes. Their most-notable collaborations were A Woman Under the Influence (1974) and Gloria (1980).

Rowlands’s father, Edwin Myrwyn Rowlands, was a banker and a politician who served in the Wisconsin state Assembly (1927–35) and the state Senate (1935–39) and then served (1939–42) in the Department of Agriculture in U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration. Her mother was the actress Mary Allen Neal (who later adopted the screen name Lady Rowlands). Rowlands attended (1947–50) the University of Wisconsin before moving to New York City and entering the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she met Cassavetes, a fellow acting student. The couple married in 1954, and they remained together until his death in 1989.

Rowlands made her television debut in 1954 and her sole Broadway appearance two years later in Middle of the Night. Thereafter she appeared often on TV, including playing a regular role on Peyton Place (1967). She earned the first of eight Emmy Award nominations for her poignant characterization of a mother facing the dual revelation that her son is a homosexual and that he is dying from AIDS in An Early Frost (1985). Rowlands tallied her first Emmy win for The Betty Ford Story (1987), in which she portrayed the former first lady. She captured another best-actress Emmy for Face of a Stranger (1991) and best-supporting-actress honors for Hysterical Blindness (2002).

USA 2006 - 78th Annual Academy Awards. Closeup of giant Oscar statue at the entrance of the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, film movie hollywood

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Rowland’s first movie role was in the comedy The High Cost of Loving (1958). She had a bit part in Cassavetes’s Shadows (1959; a film that she later suppressed) before appearing in the western Lonely Are the Brave (1962). Although she worked with various directors over the next two decades, most of her films during that time were directed by Cassavetes. The duo had arguably their greatest success with A Woman Under the Influence (1974), in which she starred as a woman struggling to reintegrate with her family after having been hospitalized for a mental breakdown, and the mob drama Gloria (1980). Rowlands received Academy Award nominations for both performances. The couple’s other acclaimed collaborations included Faces (1968), Machine Gun McCain (1969), Minnie and Moskowitz (1971), Two-Minute Warning (1976), Opening Night (1977), Tempest (1982), and Love Streams (1984; in which she played opposite her husband as his sister).

To many younger fans, Rowlands was best known for her star turn as an aging woman suffering from Alzheimer disease in the romantic drama The Notebook (2004), which was directed by her son, Nick Cassavetes. Her other films included The Spiral Road (1962), Woody Allen’s drama Another Woman (1988), Something to Talk About (1995), Hope Floats (1998), Broken English (2007; directed by her younger daughter, Zoe Cassavetes), and Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks (2014).

In 2015 Rowlands received an honorary Academy Award.

Melinda C. Shepherd