Gena Rowlands, Acclaimed Film Actress And Emmy Winner, Dead At 94

Actress Gena Rowlands, who earned four Emmys and two Oscar nominations in a long and decorated Hollywood career, has passed away at the age of 94.

Rowlands died on Wednesday at her California home surrounded by family, our sister site Deadline reports. No official cause of death has been released, but she had been battling Alzheimer's disease for the past five years, according to her son Nick Cassavetes.

After studying acting in New York and debuting on Broadway in the 1950s, Rowlands appeared on TV shows like Bonanza, 77 Sunset Strip and Alfred Hitchcock Presents before playing socialite Adrienne Van Leyden on the massively popular ABC primetime soap Peyton Place. She won three Emmys for her work in TV movies, including playing former First Lady Betty Ford in the 1987 ABC movie The Betty Ford Story. She later earned a fourth Emmy for the Showtime family drama The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie.

On the big screen, Rowlands is best known for her collaborations with her husband, director John Cassavetes, in films like 1974's A Woman Under the Influence and 1980's Gloria, both of which earned her Oscar nominations for best actress. Rowlands later starred opposite Mia Farrow in the Woody Allen film Another Woman, and played the older version of Rachel McAdams' Allie in The Notebook — which was directed by her son Nick. She was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2015.