Gena Rowlands Overview

Rowlands was born Virginia Cathryn Rowlands in Madison, Wisconsin,[1] and was raised in Cambria, Wisconsin. Her father, Edwin Myrwyn Rowlands, was a banker and a state legislator,[2] and her mother, Mary Allen (née Neal), was a painter and housewife originally from... [more]

Rowlands was born Virginia Cathryn Rowlands in Madison, Wisconsin,[1] and was raised in Cambria, Wisconsin. Her father, Edwin Myrwyn Rowlands, was a banker and a state legislator,[2] and her mother, Mary Allen (née Neal), was a painter and housewife originally from Arkansas.[3][4] The family moved to Washington, D.C. in 1939 when Edwin was appointed to a position in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1942 when he was appointed as branch manager of the Office of Price Administration,[5] and later to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Gena attended the University of Wisconsin from 1947 to 1950,[6] where she was a popular student already renowned for her beauty.[7] She left for New York City to study drama at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Career Rowlands performed in stock companies, 1951–1953, and at the Provincetown Playhouse. In 1952–1955, Rowlands went from understudy to lead role in the original Broadway production of The Seven Year Itch, and toured in a national production of the play. She opened and starred in Middle of the Night (1956) opposite film icon Edward G. Robinson. She guest starred in several anthology television series, including Robert Montgomery Presents, Kraft Television Theatre and CBS's Studio One, among many others, in 1955. She made her film debut in The High Cost of Loving in 1958. In 1961–1962, she starred as the deaf-mute wife of Robert Lansing on NBC's 87th Precinct television series, the story of a New York City police precinct. In that same season she appeared on ABC's Target: The Corruptors! Thereafter, she guest starred in the CBS anthology The Lloyd Bridges Show, of which her husband John Cassavetes directed two episodes. In 1963, she guest starred as Shelley Osborne Peters in the episode "Heart of Marble, Body of Stone" on ABC's medical drama about psychiatry, Breaking Point. In 1964, she was cast in ABC's Peyton Place nighttime soap opera. In 1967, she guest starred in the episode "Beyond the Hill" of NBC's western series The Road West starring Barry Sullivan, Andrew Prine, and Glenn Corbett. Teaming with her husband, writer and director John Cassavetes, whom she married in 1954, Rowlands starred in the television production Staccato, and the films A Child Is Waiting, Faces, Gloria (nomination for Academy Award for Best Actress), Love Streams, Minnie and Moskowitz, She's So Lovely, and A Woman Under the Influence (Academy Award nomination for Best Actress). In 1985, Rowlands played the mother in the critically acclaimed made-for-TV movie An Early Frost. In recent years, she has appeared in Paulie and in Mira Nair's HBO movie Hysterical Blindness for which she won her third Emmy. She was recently seen in The Notebook, which was directed by her son, Nick Cassavetes, and co-starred James Garner, Ryan Gosling, and Rachel McAdams. In 2004, she won her first Daytime Emmy for her role as Mrs. Evelyn Ritchie in The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie. To name a few, Ms. Rowlands has been nominated for two Academy Awards; six Emmy nominations, and 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. 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. She also appeared as a moderately compulsive surrogate mother to the main character in an episode of the TV series Monk, "Mr. Monk and the Lady Next Door," which first aired on January 23, 2009. Personal life Gena was married to John Cassavetes (9 April 1954–3 February 1989) until his death. They had 3 children, Nick Cassavetes, Alexandra Cassavetes and Zoe R. Cassavetes Cassavetes films She and John Cassavetes made ten films together: A Child Is Waiting (1963), Faces (1968/I), Intoccabili, Gli (1969), Minnie and Moskowitz (1971), A Woman Under the Influence (1974), Two-Minute Warning (1976), Opening Night (1977), Gloria (1980), Tempest (1982), and Love Streams (1984). She also appeared on Cassavetes's 1959-1960 NBC detective series Johnny Staccato as the character "Nina" in the episode "Fly Baby, Fly". 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.[8] According to Carney, Rowlands also became involved in the screenings of Husbands and Love Streams. The UCLA Film and Television Archive mounted a restoration of Husbands, as it was pruned down (without Cassavetes's 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. However, at Rowlands' request, UCLA created an alternative print with almost ten minutes of content edited out, as Rowlands felt that these scenes were in poor taste. The alternative print is the only one that has been made available for rental.[9] Filmography The High Cost of Loving (1958) Shadows (1959) Lonely Are the Brave (1962) The Spiral Road (1962) A Child Is Waiting (1963) Tony Rome (1967) Faces (1968) Machine Gun McCain (1969) Minnie and Moskowitz (1971) A Woman Under the Influence (1974) Two-Minute Warning (1976) Opening Night (1977) The Brink's Job (1978) Gloria (1980) Tempest (1982) Love Streams (1984) Light of Day (1987) Another Woman (1988) Hollywood Mavericks (1990) Once Around (1991) Night on Earth (1991) Ted and Venus (1991) Silent Cries (1993) Anything for John (1993) Something to Talk About (1995) The Neon Bible (1995) Unhook the Stars (1996) She's So Lovely (1997) Paulie (1998) Hope Floats (1998) The Mighty (1998) Playing by Heart (1998) The Weekend (1999) Light Keeps Me Company (2000) Wild Iris (2001) Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003) Hysterical Blindness (2003) Taking Lives (2004) The Notebook (2004) The Skeleton Key (2005) Paris, je t'aime (2006) Broken English (2007) Persepolis (2007) What If God Were the Sun? (2007) [show less]