The Notebook star Gena Rowlands has died at the age of 94. She had been sick with Alzheimer’s for five years.
The actress died today with her family and friends by her side.
Nick Cassavetes, Gena’s director son, told everyone in June that she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
TMZ said that he was with her family at her home in Indian Wells, California, when she died.
At this point, there is no official word on what caused Gena’s death. However, in June, her son said that she had been fighting Alzheimer’s for five years and was experiencing “full dementia.”
Allie Hamilton, the character she played in “The Notebook,” also had Alzheimer’s.
THINKING OF GENA
Fans flooded social media to talk about her death after it was made public.
A well-known X account called @FilmUpdates posted a picture of the actress with the words “Gena Rowlands has sadly passed away at the age of 94.”
In the replies, fans talked about how sorry they were.
“Watching the Notebook tonight,” one fan wrote.
“This is such sad news. RIP,” cried a fourth.
“She is so good at acting!” “RIP,” wrote a fifth.
A different person wrote, “Wow, what an amazing long life.”
“Not my notebook, grandma,” said someone else.
“This really hurts…””Rest in peace,” wrote the eighth person.
GENA’S FIGHT
It was 20 years since The Notebook came out, and in June, Gena’s son talked about her private health battle.
Nick told Entertainment Weekly that his mother has Alzheimer’s disease.
“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,” he told the newspaper.
I think she has full dementia. “Yes, it’s crazy—we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s our turn.”
In 2004, Gena played an older Allie in the movie and showed how she fought the disease.
Rachel McAdams, who play Allie in Mean Girls, played a younger version of her.
Gena said that the part was special to her because her mother also had Alzheimer’s disease after the movie came out.
A woman who talks to O Magazine said, “This last one was especially hard because I play a character who has Alzheimer’s.”
“I went through that with my mom, and I don’t think I would have done it if Nick hadn’t directed the movie. It’s too hard.” The movie was tough but great.
GENA’S STORY
While many people know Gena best for her role as Allie in The Notebook, she has had many other famous roles as well.
Her first movie role was in The High Cost of Loving in 1958. Before that, she had many TV roles in the 1950s and 1960s.
Four years later, she played the lead role in Lonely Are the Brave, which starred Kirk Douglas and Walter Matthau.
In the 1960s and 1980s, Gena and her late first husband, John Cassavetes, also made a lot of movies.
John died in 1989. Nick, Alexandra, and Zoe are Gena’s three children. William was their father.
Each of their three kids is an actor or a director.