Gena Rowlands
Publicity photo, 1955
Born	Virginia Cathryn Rowlands (1930-06-19) June 19, 1930 (age 82) Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1954–present

Virginia Cathryn "Gena" Rowlands (born June 19, 1930) is an American actress of film, stage and television. The four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner is best known for her collaborations with her actor-director husband John Cassavetes in ten films, in two of which, Gloria and A Woman Under the Influence, she gave Academy Award-nominated performances.

Early years[link]

Rowlands was born as Virginia Cathryn Rowlands in Madison, Wisconsin.^[1] Her mother, Mary Allen (née Neal), was a painter and housewife originally from Arkansas.^[2][3] Her father, Edwin Myrwyn Rowlands, was a banker and a state legislator^[4] who was of Welsh descent.^[5] 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 as branch manager of the Office of Price Administration;^[6] and later moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. From 1947-50, she attended the University of Wisconsin,^[7] where she was a popular student already renowned for her beauty.^[8] She left for New York City to study drama at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Career[link]

Stage and television[link]

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 guest starred on such anthology television series as Robert Montgomery Presents, Appointment with Adventure, Kraft Television Theatre, and Studio One (1955). In 1956, she starred in Middle of the Night opposite Edward G. Robinson. She appeared alongside husband Cassavetes on an episode ("Fly Baby, Fly") of the 1959–60 NBC detective series Johnny Staccato.

In 1961–62, she starred as the deaf-mute wife of Robert Lansing on 87th Precinct. In that same season, she appeared on Target: The Corruptors! Thereafter, she guest starred in The Lloyd Bridges Show and Breaking Point. In 1963 she guest-starred in an episode on the television series Bonanza and The Virginian and "The Lonely Hours" on the "Alfred Hitchcock Hour". In 1967, she was cast as socialite Adrienne Van Leyden in the prime time soap opera Peyton Place. She also guest-starred that year in the western series The Road West, starring Barry Sullivan, Andrew Prine and Glenn Corbett. In 1975, she appeared with Peter Falk, Oskar Werner, and Martha Scott in the Columbo episode Playback, playing wheelchair-using Elizabeth Van Wick, whose husband (Werner) murders her wealthy mother (Scott).^{[citation needed]}

In 1985, Rowlands played the mother in the critically acclaimed made-for-TV movie An Early Frost. She appeared in Mira Nair's HBO movie Hysterical Blindness for which she won her third Emmy. She also won an Emmy for her portrayal of former first lady Betty Ford in the 1987 made-for-TV movie The Betty Ford Story.

Cassavetes films[link]

Rowlands made her film debut in The High Cost of Loving in 1958. She and Cassavetes made ten films together: A Child is Waiting (1963), Faces (1968), Machine Gun McCain (1969), Minnie and Moskowitz (1971), A Woman Under the Influence (1974; nomination for Academy Award for Best Actress), Two-Minute Warning (1976), Opening Night (1977), Gloria (1980; nomination for Academy Award for Best Actress), Tempest (1982), and Love Streams (1984).

According to Boston University film scholar Ray Carney, Rowlands sought to suppress an early version of Cassavetes' first film, Shadows, that Carney says he rediscovered after decades of searching.^[9] Rowlands also became involved in the screenings of Husbands and Love Streams, according to Carney. The UCLA Film and Television Archive mounted a restoration of Husbands, as it was pruned down (without Cassavetes' consent, and in violation of his contract) by Columbia Pictures several months after its release, in an attempt to restore as much of the removed content as possible. At Rowlands' request, UCLA created an alternate print with almost ten minutes of content edited out, as Rowlands felt that these scenes were in poor taste. The alternate print is the only one that has been made available for rental.^[10]

Post-Cassavetes films[link]

Rowlands at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

Rowlands was seen in The Notebook, which was directed by her son Nick Cassavetes, opposite James Garner. In 2004, she won her first Daytime Emmy for her role as Mrs. Evelyn Ritchie in The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie.

Rowlands has been nominated for two Academy Awards, eight Emmies, one Daytime Emmy, eight Golden Globes, three Satellite Awards, and one SAG Award. Some of her notable wins include a Silver Berlin Bear; three Emmy Awards and one Daytime Emmy; two Golden Globes; two National Board of Review Awards; two Satellite Awards; and one Prize San Sebastián. In 2005, she appeared opposite Kate Hudson, Peter Sarsgaard, and John Hurt in the gothic thriller The Skeleton Key.^{[citation needed]}

In 2007, she played a supporting role opposite Parker Posey and Melvil Poupaud in Broken English, an independent American feature written and directed by her daughter Zoe Cassavetes. In 2009, she appeared on an episode of Monk ("Mr. Monk and the Lady Next Door"). On March 2, 2010, she appeared on an episode of NCIS as lead character Leroy Jethro Gibbs's former mother-in-law, who is embroiled in a murder investigation.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[link]

Rowlands was married to John Cassavetes from April 9, 1954, until his death on February 3, 1989. They had three children, all actor-directors: Nick, Alexandra, and Zoe.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gena Rowlands

• Gena Rowlands at the Internet Broadway Database
• Gena Rowlands at the Internet Movie Database
• Gena Rowlands at the TCM Movie Database
• Gena Rowlands at Yahoo! Movies