Gena Rowlands, immense actress with a dazzling career in Hollywood, suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, sadly announced by her son Nick Cassavetes who had cast her in his film “The Notebook” (“Never Forget” in VF) , dealing with precisely this disease.
Hollywood legend, Gena Rowlands, 94, suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, her son, director Nick Cassevetes, announced this Tuesday, the fruit of the actress’ love affair with filmmaker John Cassavetes. Ironically, in 2004 Nick Cassavetes had his mother play in the film “The Notebook” (“Never Forget”) in the role of a woman suffering from this same disease.
“I asked my mother to play the older Allie (the “younger” character was played by Rachel McAdams, editor’s note), and we spent a lot of time talking about Alzheimer’s disease and wanting to be authentic. And now, for five years, she has suffered from Alzheimer’s disease,” said the director, whose grandmother, the actress Lady Rowlands, also suffered from it. “She is in complete dementia. And it’s so crazy – we lived it, she played it, and now it’s happening to us.”
In a 2004 interview with O magazine, Gena Rowlands explained how her mother’s battle with illness influenced her decision to play Allie. “This last film, “Never Forget”, based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks, was particularly difficult because I play a character suffering from Alzheimer’s disease,” she confided. “I went through this with my mother, and if Nick hadn’t directed the film, I don’t think I would have agreed to do it, it’s just too hard. It was a difficult but wonderful film.
Gena Rowlands, who received an honorary Oscar in 2015, made ten films with her husband, John Cassavetes, including “A Woman Under the Influence” (1974) and “Gloria” (1980) for which she was nominated for an Oscar. . She has also won four Emmy Awards. Her last credited performance was in 2014 in the comedy “Six dance lessons in six weeks”.
