Movie Legend Gena Rowlands Diagnosed With Alzheimer’s [Video]

Celebrated actress Gena Rowlands has Alzheimer’s disease, her son, director and actor Nick Cassavetes, shared with Entertainment Weekly. The four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe Award-winning actress’ health update came amid a discussion with Cassavetes about working with his mother on The Notebook for the beloved romance film’s 20th anniversary.

Rowlands, 93, played an older version of Rachel McAdams’ character Allie, who also had dementia. “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,” Cassavetes told the outlet. “She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy – we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us.”

In 2004, the actress, whose seven-decade career included two Oscar nominations and an honorary Academy Award, told O magazinethat she drew on her own mother’s …