Gena Rowlands

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Gena Rowlands at the 1992 Emmy Awards

Gena Rowlands (born June 19, 1930 in Madison , Wisconsin ; actually Virginia Cathryn Rowlands ) is an American actress .

Family and youth

Gena Rowlands was born to banker Edwyn Myrwyn Rowlands and his wife, painter Mary Allen Neal, and grew up in Cambria , Wisconsin. In 1939, Edwyn Rowlands was called to political office in Washington, DC , and the family followed him. Three years later, the family moved to Minneapolis , Minnesota .

Gena Rowlands attended Lee High School and then studied at the University of Wisconsin. She also completed a classical acting training at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City .

In 1954 she married John Cassavetes , whom she had met at the Academy in New York. The couple have three children together who also work in the film business. Nick Cassavetes followed in his father's footsteps and is also a director. Alexandra Katherine and Zoe R. Cassavetes are both actresses and directors. Rowlands and Cassavetes stayed together until his death in 1989.

Career

Gena Rowlands made her stage debut in New York's Provincetown Playhouse, where she started out as a cloakroom lady. Until the late 1950s, she played exclusively in the theater, including on Broadway . She made her screen debut as a contract actress with MGM in 1958 in José Ferrer's High Cost of Loving .

After marrying John Cassavetes, Rowlands made numerous appearances in his films, including A Woman Under Influence (1974) and Gloria the Gangster Bride (1980), which earned her Oscar nominations. A total of ten joint productions were made, in which other family members such as Rowland's mother and her brother David were often involved.

Her son Nick Cassavetes also cast the actress in several of his films, for example in Let's Call It Love , with which he filmed a screenplay by his late father, and A Light in My Heart . In 2009 she received her eighth Emmy nomination for her guest appearance as Marge on the series Monk (episode: Mr. Monk And The Lady Next Door ) . In 2011 she stood in front of the camera for the first feature film, Olive , shot with a smartphone .

Rowlands last stood in front of the film camera in 2014. In interviews the following year, she confirmed that she was retired.

Filmography (selection)

Rowlands at the 59th Cannes Film Festival (2006)

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Director makes first smartphone movie, starring Gena Rowlands - Raw Story from December 9, 2011
  2. ^ Gena Rowlands on Pioneering the Indie Film Movement With Late Husband John Cassavetes. Retrieved February 11, 2020 .

Web links

Commons : Gena Rowlands  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Rowlands, Gena
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rowlands, Virginia Cathryn (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH June 19, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Madison , Wisconsin, United States