Inside Gena Rowlands’ death and eerie link to The Notebook character two years on

Lauren MartinezFri, August 14, 2026 at 9:00 AM UTC

0

Inside Gena Rowlands' death and the eerie connection to her past character -Credit:Getty Images

Legendary actress Gena Rowlands died at the age of 94 on August 14, 2024, after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease that actually mirrored a battle faced by one of the most famous characters she portrayed on screen.

The Hollywood legend passed away following a private battle with Alzheimer’s Disease in 2024, with her family confirming she had been battling the disease privately for several years, just two months before she died.

While scientists continue to work to try to find anything that could help prevent the most common form of dementia, fans of Rowlands’ work have been able to look back since her death–and see similarities and connections to one of her infamous onscreen roles.

• Whitney Houston's horrifying autopsy – burned skin, sewn-on wig and scars everywhere

• Karoline Leavitt unwittingly humiliates Donald Trump as critics ask about his 'diaper'

Rowlands starred in 2004’s The Notebook, an adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ novel. The film also starred James Garner, James Marsden, Ryan Gosling, and Rachel McAdams.

In the film, an older man, Duke (Garner) reads a romantic story to another female resident of his nursing home (Rowlands). The story dates back to 1940 and follows the fated romance between lumber worker Noah Calhoun (Gosling) and heiress Allie (McAdams).

The story follows their early love story and the years that kept them apart before they reunite shortly before Allie’s wedding to another man. Allie is left to decide who she wants to spend the rest of her life with, eventually choosing Noah.

Advertisement

The movie then reveals that Duke is actually a present-day Noah, and the woman he is reading to is present-day Allie, who has dementia and cannot remember their past, but wrote the story down beforehand so he could help her potentially recall it and remember him in their older years.

Gena Rowlands infamously portrayed a dementia riddled Allie in The Notebook -Credit:New Line Cinema

The film ends with the pair briefly reuniting after Noah has a heart attack and Allie winds up in a locked dementia ward–as they sneak off to be together one more night before dying together in their sleep, while holding hands.

The parallels between the film and Rowlands’ real-life battle with dementia are made more poignant because the film’s director, Nick Cassavetes, was her son with her first husband, John Cassavetes, who died in 1989.

Her son was the one who confirmed her diagnosis in June 2024, revealing she had been battling it for five years, telling Entertainment Weekly about it as he looked back at working together on The Notebook in honor of its 20th anniversary.

Gena Rowlands starred in the film, which was directed by her son, Nick Cassavetes, -Credit:Getty Images

“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, and now, for the last five years, she’s had Alzheimer’s,” he said at the time.

“She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy–we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us.”

Rowlands herself had also opened up about how watching her own mother, actress Lady Rowlands, struggle with Alzheimer’s as well, informed her performance of Allie.

Rowlands previously opened up about her mother's own battle with the disease -Credit:Getty Images

In a 2004 interview with O Magazine, she admitted that the personal experience largely impacted her decision to take on the role.

“This last one–The Notebook, based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks–was particularly hard because I play a character who has Alzheimer’s,” she said at the time. “I went through that with my mother, and if Nicik 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.”

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”