A world-famous actress who was twice nominated for an Oscar and is beloved by younger fans for her role in The Notebook has died, it was revealed today.
Gena Rowlands, who played Allie Hamilton in the Ryan Gosling movie, passed away surrounded by her close family in California after a five-year battle with Alzheimer’s. She was 94.
No official cause of death has been given, but Gena’s son said in June that she had been suffering with Alzheimer’s and had been living with “full dementia.”
Her character in The Notebook also suffered from Alzheimer’s. While celebrating the 20th anniversary of the movie, Gena’s 65-year-old filmmaker son Nick Cassavetes told Entertainment Weekly: “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.
“Now, for the last five years, she’s had Alzheimer’s. She’s in full dementia, and it’s so crazy – we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us.”
Gena’s late mother Lady Rowlands died aged 95 in 1999 after suffering the degenerative disease. The actress opened up in 2004 about how her own mum’s struggle with Alzheimer’s had influenced her decision to play Allie in The Notebook, which was adapted from Nicholas Sparks’ 1996 novel.
She told O magazine: “I went through that with my mother, and if Nick hadn’t directed the film, I don’t think I would have gone for it – it’s just too hard. It was a tough but wonderful movie.”
Gena was described as a “once in a lifetime artists” in the many tributes that have followed her death, with many fans insisting they would be watching The Notebook today in honour of her.