Gena Rowlands
Gena Rowlands
Virginia Cathryn "Gena" Rowlandsis an American film, stage, and television actress, whose career in the entertainment industry has spanned over six decades. A four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner, she is known for her collaborations with her late actor-director husband John Cassavetes in ten films, including A Woman Under the Influenceand Gloria, which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She also won the Silver Bear for Best Actress for Opening Night. In November 2015, Rowlands...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actress
Date of Birth19 June 1930
CityMadison, WI
CountryUnited States of America
It was more freedom than I think most people get when they're starting out - or even when they're not starting out. He [John Cassavetes] did his thing and I did whatever I thought.
I went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, which was in Carnegie Hall, which itself was exciting - just to walk into it.
I think that I was lucky to have that period of time [ like coming to New York] because everything was so exciting and new.
I'd wanted to be [an actress] all my life.
So I went home and I told my mom that I wanted to quit and be an actress and she said, "Huh, that sounds fascinating. It's wonderful!" [laughs] And I told my father and he literally said, "I don't care if you want to be an elephant trainer if it makes you happy."
I think I have the only parents in the world who would not have said something against become an actress.
Bette Davis had very strong opinions and was not afraid to express them. She wasn't afraid of anything that I ever saw. And she was so funny. She's just funny and she was laughing all the time.
I just loved Bette Davis and the fact that I had a chance to work with her [on the 1979 TV movie Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter] was momentous.
I loved Bette Davis when I was little and when I was big and when I got old.
A Woman Under the Influence was my favorite. I loved doing that. And it was challenging.
Paddy Chayefksy was writing and it was a time where everybody was happy to be there [on TV].
I read the script of [Woman Under the Influence ] 50 times. And I thought about it. And then I did it.
John [Cassavetes] had shot a great deal of Shadows and I had to go fulfill my contract in California, so he and all the rest of the Shadows cast came out to California and they finished it off and he cut it. He turned the garage into an editing room and he was by then a director of Shadows. That's the only thing he'd directed. But, he loved it.
When I was in Middle of The Night, MGM came and offered me a contract and I said that when I got out of the play, I'd like to try it. I didn't know anything about making movies but I was certainly finding it interesting.