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Virginia Cathryn "Gena" Rowlands (June 19, 1930 – August 14, 2024) was an American actress.
The daughter of Wisconsin state legislator Edwin Rowlands, she attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison before leaving for New York City and an acting career in 1950. By the mid-1950s, she was appearing on television and the stage, debuting on Broadway inThe Seven Year Itch in 1954.
Also in 1954, she marriedJohn Cassavetes, then a television and stage actor like Rowlands who would soon become one of the great directors of American independent cinema, with Rowlands as his creative partner and leading lady in most every film he ever made. She appeared as an extra in Cassavetes' debut feature,Shadows, and had one of her first starring film roles in his filmA Child Is Waiting. She received anAcademy Award nomination for Best Actress for her husband's acclaimed 1974 filmA Woman Under the Influence, where she plays a housewife slowly descending into madness. She got another Oscar nomination for Cassavetes' 1980 filmGloria, in which she plays a gangster's moll who goes on the run.
Rowlands and Cassavetes were married until his death in 1989. Notable non-Cassavetes films starring Rowlands includeLonely Are the Brave, a 1962 Western in which she co-starred withKirk Douglas, and 1998'sHope Floats in which she appears asSandra Bullock's mom. Rowlands and Cassavetes' sonNick became a film director as well, and Rowlands has appeared in several of his films, includingThe Notebook.
In June 2024, it was revealed through Nick that Rowlands had been living with Alzheimer's disease for the past five years. Less than two months later, Rowlands passed away.
