Stage, screen and TV star Gena Rowlands, 94, died on August 14. Rowlands often collaborated with her husband, actor/director John Cassavetes, on such projects as A Woman Under the Influence, Gloria, Faces, and Minnie and Moskowitz, and with her son Nick Cassavetes in The Notebook. Rowlands was a Joanne Woodward/Ellen Burstyn type; a glamorous blonde with a down-to-earth “Group Theater” edge. She moved from the stage to TV in the 1950s, finally getting cast in meatier roles by the early ’60s. She continued acting till 2017, in such recent shows as NCIS and Monk. Rowlands said about working with her husband, “We had a great deal of freedom when John acted. We traveled a lot and it was fun. But with directing ... really. I think people don’t have all their marbles who prefer directing to acting because you write for three months, you cut for maybe six months. He’s the most terrifying perfectionist about what he wants.”
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