Gena Rowlands, 'The Notebook' and three-time Emmy Award-winning actress, dies at 94

Gena Rowlands, the acclaimed American actress, three-time Emmy winner and dual Oscar nominee for her vivid portrayals of strong, troubled women in the crime drama 'Gloria' and ;A Woman Under the Influence,' has died at the age of 94.

Gena Rowlands, the acclaimed American actress, three-time Emmy winner and dual Oscar nominee for her vivid portrayals of strong, troubled women in the crime drama "Gloria" and "A Woman Under the Influence," has died at the age of 94, Entertainment Weekly reported on Wednesday, citing her son, Nick Cassavetes.

Rowlands starred in dozens of films during a career that began on stage and television in the 1950s and included award-winning roles in movies directed by her first husband, actor, writer and director John Cassavetes.

Nick Cassavetes revealed in June that Rowlands had Alzheimer's, like her own mother and the character she portrayed in the 2004 film "The Notebook."

"She's in full dementia. And it's so crazy - we lived it, she acted it, and now it's on us," her son, who directed the film, told Entertainment Weekly.

Rowlands and Cassavetes were the golden couple of independent films in the United States in the 1970s and '80s. Cassavetes was a pioneer in cinema verite and Rowlands was his muse.

"Independent filmmaking existed before Cassavetes, but Cassavetes, working with Rowlands, managed to make an independent cinema that borrowed from Hollywood - not in plots or styles but in actorly allure and dramatic power," the New Yorker said in 2016.

The tall, blonde actress made 10 films with Cassavetes before his death in 1989, including the psychological drama "Opening Night" (1977), the marital saga "Faces" (1968) and 1984's "Love Streams," in which she played his sister.