Gena Rowlands

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Gena Rowlands

Rowlands on the red carpet at the 1992 Emmy Awards
Born Virginia Cathryn Rowlands
June 19, 1930 (1930-06-19) (age 77)
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Years active 1956-present
Spouse(s) John Cassavetes (1929-1989)

Gena Rowlands (born June 19, 1930) is an American actress who has twice been nominated for an Academy Award, and has won three Emmy Awards for her performances.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Rowlands was born Virginia Cathryn Rowlands in Madison, Wisconsin,[1] and was raised in Cambria, Wisconsin. Her father, Edwin Myrwyn Rowlands, was a banker and a state legislator,[2] and her mother, Mary Allen (née Neal), was a painter and housewife originally from Arkansas.[3][4] The family moved to Washington, D.C. in 1939 when Edwin was appointed to a position in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1942 when he was appointed as branch manager of the Office of Price Administration,[5] and later to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Gena attended the University of Wisconsin from 1947 to 1950,[6] where she was a popular student already renowned for her beauty.[7] She left for New York City to study drama at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

[edit] Career

Rowlands went from understudy to lead role in the original Broadway production of The Seven Year Itch. She opened and starred in Middle of the Night (1956) opposite film icon Edward G. Robinson.

She made her film debut in The High Cost of Loving in 1958. She guest starred in several anthology television series, including Robert Montgomery Presents, Kraft Television Theatre and Studio One, among many others. In 1961 she starred in the well-received television series 87th Precinct, and in 1964 in Peyton Place.

Teaming with her husband, writer and director John Cassavetes, whom she married in 1954, Rowlands starred in many productions, including Staccato, A Child Is Waiting, Faces, Gloria (nomination for Academy Award for Best Actress), Love Streams, Minnie and Moskowitz, She's So Lovely, and A Woman Under the Influence (Academy Award nomination for Best Actress). She starred in The Neon Bible.

In 1985, Rowlands played the mother in the critically acclaimed made-for-TV movie An Early Frost. In recent years, she has appeared in Paulie and in Mira Nair's HBO movie, Hysterical Blindness for which she won her third Emmy.

She was recently seen in The Notebook, which was directed by her son, Nick Cassavetes, and co-starred James Garner, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. In 2004 she won her first Daytime Emmy for her role as Mrs. Evelyn Ritchie in The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie. To name a few, Ms. Rowlands has been nominated for: two Academy Awards; six Emmy nominations, and one Daytime Emmy; eight Golden Globes; three Satellite Awards; and one SAG Award. Some of her notable wins include: a Silver Berlin Bear; three Emmy Awards and one Daytime Emmy; two Golden Globes; two National Board of Review Awards; two Satellite Awards; and one Prize San Sebastián.

In 2005, she appeared opposite Kate Hudson, Peter Sarsgaard, and John Hurt in the gothic thriller The Skeleton Key.

[edit] Cassavetes films

According to Boston University film scholar Ray Carney, Rowlands sought to suppress an early version of Cassavetes' first film, Shadows, that Carney says he rediscovered after decades of searching.[8]

According to Carney, Rowlands also became involved in the screenings of Husbands and Love Streams. The UCLA Film and Television Archive mounted a restoration of Husbands, as it was pruned down (without Cassavetes's consent, and in violation of his contract) by Columbia Pictures several months after its release, in an attempt to restore as much of the removed content as possible. However, at Rowlands' request, UCLA created an alternative print with almost ten minutes of content edited out, as Rowlands felt that these scenes were in poor taste. The alternative print is the only one that has been made available for rental.[9]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

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  1. ^ Dane County Register of Deeds, Madison, Wisconsin.
  2. ^ Assembly, 1927-1935; Senate, 1935-1939. Members of the Wisconsin Legislature 1848 – 1999, Informational Bulletin 99-1, Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, 1999. He was a member of Wisconsin's Progressive Party.
  3. ^ U.S. Census, April 1, 1930, state of Wisconsin, county of Columbia, village of Cambria, enumeration district 3, page 4-B, family 130.
  4. ^ Gena Rowlands Biography (1930?-)
  5. ^ "OPA Directed by Merwyn Rowlands," The Sheboygan Press, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, April 2, 1942, p. 4.
  6. ^ Registrar's Office, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
  7. ^ "Six U.W. Co-eds 'Badger Beauties,'" The Sheboygan Press, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, November 14, 1949, p. 2.
  8. ^ “Who Owns an Improvised Work?”, The John Cassavetes Pages. accessed 17 December 2006
  9. ^ Carney, Ray “On Your Relationship with Criterion”, The John Cassavetes Pages. accessed 17 December 2006

[edit] External links


Awards
Preceded by
Marsha Mason
for Cinderella Liberty		 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1975
for A Woman Under the Influence		 Succeeded by
Louise Fletcher
for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
v • d • e
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie

Susan Clark / Rosemary Harris (1976) · Sally Field / Patty Duke (1977) · Joanne Woodward / Meryl Streep (1978) · Bette Davis (1979) · Patty Duke (1980) · Vanessa Redgrave (1981) · Ingrid Bergman (1982) · Barbara Stanwyck (1983) · Jane Fonda (1984) · Joanne Woodward (1985) · Marlo Thomas (1986) · Gena Rowlands (1987) · Jessica Tandy (1988) · Holly Hunter (1989) · Barbara Hershey (1990) · Lynn Whitfield (1991) · Gena Rowlands (1992) · Holly Hunter (1993) · Kirstie Alley (1994) · Glenn Close (1995) · Helen Mirren (1996) · Alfre Woodard (1997) · Ellen Barkin (1998) · Helen Mirren (1999) · Halle Berry (2000)
v • d • e
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Miniseries or a Movie

Tammy Blanchard (2001) · Stockard Channing (2002) · Gena Rowlands (2003) · Mary-Louise Parker (2004) · Jane Alexander (2005) · Kelly Macdonald (2006) · Judy Davis (2007)