The Notebooks Gena Rowlands Diagnosed With Dementia Years After Playing An Alzheimers Patient In Nicholas Sparks Film [Video]

The Notebook director Nick Cassavetes has revealed that his mother, legendary Hollywood actress Gena Rowlands, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease.

Cassavetes worked with his mother in 2004 on his film The Notebook, in which Rowlands played the Alzheimer’s-stricken Allie Calhoun, the older version of Rachel McAdams’ character. The book, based on the Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name, starred Ryan Gosling as the poor but passionate Noah, who falls in love with wealthy Allie (McAdams).

James Garner plays the older version of Noah, as he retells their love story to Rowlands’ Allie, now living with dementia in a nursing home.

At the time, Rowlands explained that her decision to take on the role was due to her own mother’s affliction with the disease.

“[It] was particularly hard because I play a character who has Alzheimer’s,” she said, per Oprah.com. “I went through that with my mother, and if Nick hadn’t directed …