R.I.P. Gena Rowlands — She Was Never Bad In A Movie Ever

Monday is about movies, and TV. Today, it’s about honouring one of the greats. Gena Rowlands.

Gena Rowlands has died. She was 94. News of her departure from this earth was shared late last week, and so many actors talked about her influence, and mentioned key performances.

Rowlands was never bad. She was always good. Often brilliant. And there are some transcendent performances from her.

I first knew her from a Woody Allen film. In my 20s I was obsessed with the Allen filmography, I still think so much of it is brilliant, but it might be best left on the shelf these days.

Another Woman from 1988 is one of the best of the Woody Allen films that isn’t ever talked about. And when it does get mentioned it’s usually for Gene Hackman’s appearance. And hey, he’s always wonderful — and has a similarly fearsome and nearly perfect filmography, but this is about Gena. Another Woman is a late-career gem from Rowlands. And she kept making them. Take a nearly-turkey film like Hope Floats, and there’s some scene-stealing from Rowlands. And of course she was in her son’s romantic weepy, The Notebook. Rowlands plays the ‘older’ Allie, (aka the geriatric version of the Rachel McAdams character).

Just to be clear, I’ve not seen The Notebook, but I know it has received decent notices, and for some people this was their introduction to Rowlands. Her son that made the film is Nick Cassavetes. His dad — John Cassavetes, the legend of independent cinema — was Gena’s husband from 1954 until his death in 1989.

Gena was John’s muse. They worked together across the 60s and into the 80s, making many legendary films in the seventies decade, in particular.

Prior to her work with her husband, Rowlands was theatre-trained and had many spots on TV, including a few episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, which I also first knew her from.

But the work I know best is her dazzling run in A Woman Under The Influence (1974), Opening Night (1977), and Gloria (1980). There were other films in and around those pictures, but those are the ones, so much so, if Rowlands had somehow only appeared in those films we’d still all be talking about her this week, and last week, and for so many parts of the last 40 years.

Those are the films that inspired Amy Sedaris, and Sandra Bernhardt, and Gina Gershon, and Rosanne Arquette, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and dozens of others. Those are the very best of the Rowlands/Cassavetes collaboration. And it was one of the best, most searing collaborations of the 1970s. There’s always talk of the Martin Scorsese/Robert DeNiro partnership, and, in a different way, the Spielberg/John Williams collaboration, but it is the Gena Rowlands and John Cassavetes partnership — in life, and film — that speaks the volumes, particularly when it comes to independent cinema.

I can’t tell you anything about those films that you maybe don’t already know, or can’t find explained better elsewhere.

But I can tell you that I loved her in Cassavettes’ 1968 classic, Faces. And I loved her in 1995’s Something To Talk About, 1997’s She’s So Lovely (a John Cassavetes story, directed by their son Nick), and in 1998’s The Mighty. These last three all being the start of her in ‘Senior’ roles, and taking her lifelong role as a bridge back to the golden era of Hollywood very seriously. (Actually, chuck in Hope Floats from ‘98 as well, I like that film).

A total, complete class act.

What I can do though, is give you a space to share your favourite films that starred Rowlands, and/or favourite performances she offered. And I can share a couple of the obituaries that gave good insights as well as the key biographical/timeline details for if you’re needing those.

The Guardian did a fine job here.

NPR was good too.

PBS was decent and shared great photos of her with Cassavetes and actor Peter Falk.

LAMag had this to say.

And The New York Times shared 10 key performances here.

There are more, of course, but as always it’s best to head to the DVD store, or online streamer, or your own collection. It’s best to revisit, and rewatch, or find the ones you never saw.

Gena Rowlands was praised, in her life, for being an “actor” rather than “a star”, a person who appeared in films, theatre, and TV and did the work, rather than “a celebrity”, and now in her death it is that, along with her actual exquisite work, that is being further celebrated.

I’m off to rewatch A Woman Under The Influence. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a performance to top it, nor a film to match it.

R.I.P. Gena Rowlands. One of the true legends of cinema acting.