GENA ROWLANDS, ICON OF THE INDEPENDENT CINEMA

Today, The Grandma has received very sad news. Gena Rowlands, the American actress has passed away.

Virginia Cathryn "Gena" Rowlands (June 19, 1930-August 14, 2024) was an American actress, whose career in film, stage, and television spanned nearly seven decades.

A four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner, she collaborated with her actor-director husband John Cassavetes in ten films, including A Woman Under the Influence (1974) and Gloria (1980), both of which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She also won the Silver Bear for Best Actress for Opening Night (1977). She appeared in Woody Allen's Another Woman (1988), and her son Nick Cassavetes's film, The Notebook (2004).

In 2021, Richard Brody of The New Yorker said, The most important and original movie actor of the past half century-plus is Gena Rowlands.

In November 2015, Rowlands received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of her unique screen performances.

Rowlands was born on June 19, 1930, in Madison, Wisconsin. Her mother, Mary Allen (née Neal), was a housewife who later worked as an actress under the stage name Lady Rowlands. Her father, Edwin Myrwyn Rowlands, was a banker and state legislator. He was a member of the Wisconsin Progressive Party, and was of Welsh descent. She had an elder brother, David Rowlands.

Her family moved to Washington, D.C., in 1939, when Edwin was appointed to a position in the United States Department of Agriculture; moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1942, when he was appointed branch manager of the Office of Price Administration; and later moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

From 1947 to 1950, she attended the University of Wisconsin, where she was a popular student already renowned for her beauty. While in college, she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. She left for New York City to study drama at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

In the early 1950s, Rowlands performed with repertory theatre companies and at the Provincetown Playhouse. She made her Broadway debut in The Seven Year Itch and toured in a national production of the play.

Rowlands died at her home in Indian Wells, California, on August 14, 2024, at the age of 94.

More information: Roger Ebert

 The thing about acting is you don't want to let on
how enjoyable it is or then everybody
would want to become an actress. But it really is.
It's a pleasure to go and exchange your identity.

Gena Rowlands