Gena Rowlands (born June 19, 1930) is an American actress of film, stage and television. She collaborated with her actor-director husband John Cassavetes on ten films.
Born as Virginia Cathryn Rowlands in Madison, Wisconsin, Rowlands was raised in Cambria. Her father, Edwin Myrwyn Rowlands, was a banker and a state legislator, and her mother, Mary Allen (née Neal), was a painter and housewife originally from Arkansas. The family moved to Washingt...
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Gena Rowlands (born June 19, 1930) is an American actress of film, stage and television. She collaborated with her actor-director husband John Cassavetes on ten films.
Born as Virginia Cathryn Rowlands in Madison, Wisconsin, Rowlands was raised in Cambria. Her father, Edwin Myrwyn Rowlands, was a banker and a state legislator, and her mother, Mary Allen (née Neal), was a painter and housewife originally from Arkansas. The family moved to Washington, D.C. in 1939 when Edwin was appointed to a position in the United States Department of Agriculture, to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1942 when he was appointed as branch manager of the Office of Price Administration, and later to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Gena attended the University of Wisconsin from 1947 to 1950, where she was a popular student already renowned for her beauty. She left for New York City to study drama at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
In the early 1950s, Rowlands performed with repertory theatre companies and at the...
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