Actress Gena Rowlands has been paving the way since she was in her 20s.
She’s starred in hit movies and television shows and made a name for herself on Broadway.
Now, as her son, director Nick Cassavetes revealed in a new interview that the 93-year-old star has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
The irony, as Nick said himself, is not lost on him.
You may recognize Gena as the actress who playing the older Allie in the hit movie The Notebook starring Ryan Gosling and Rachael McAdams.
The movie follows Noah, who is visiting his beloved wife Allie in her nursing home as he tells her the story of their life in hopes of helping her remember. Allie, in her later years, lives with Alzheimer’s.
Nick directed the movie and recalls getting his mom to agree to play the character. “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,” Nick shared with Entertainment Weekly.
“And 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.”
Nick recalled a moment between himself and his mom on the set of The Notebook when they were forced to do a few reshoots.
“We go to reshoots, and now it’s one of those things where mama’s pissed and I had asked her, ‘Can you do it, mom?’ She goes, ‘I can do anything.’”
And that’s when Rowlands pulled from real life for her performance. “I promise you, on my father’s life, this is true: Teardrops came flying out of her eyes when she saw [Garner], and she burst into tears. And I was like, okay, well, we got that… It’s the one time I was in trouble on set.”
Rowlands’ mom, Lady Rowlands, also lived with the disease. In a 2004 interview with O Magazine, Rowlands recalled how watching her mom live with Alzheimer’s impacted her decision to take the part.
“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,” she explained.
Now, The Notebook turns 20 years old this year, and Nick tells Entertainment Weekly that he’s very proud of the movie they created.
“It’s always a shock to hear that as much time has gone by as it has, but it makes sense. I’m just happy that it exists. It seems to have worked and I’m very proud of it.”
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