The celebrated actor and honorary Academy Award recipient Gena Rowlands is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, her son, the filmmaker Nick Cassavetes, has revealed.
Cassavetes, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly published Tuesday, said Rowlands has had Alzheimer's for five years. In the 2004 film "The Notebook," Cassavetes directed his mother, who played the older version of the character played by Rachel McAdams, as a woman with dementia.
"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 said. "She's in full dementia. And it's so crazy — we lived it, she acted it, and now it's on us."
A representative for Rowlands confirmed that Cassavetes "speaks for the family."
Rowlands, who received an honorary Oscar in 2015, made 10 films with her husband, John Cassavetes, including 1974's "A Woman Under the Influence" and 1980's "Gloria." She was Oscar nominated for both performances. She also won four Emmy awards. Her last credited performance was the 2014 comedy "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks."
Rowlands's mother, actor Lady Rowlands, also had Alzheimer's. During the making of "The Notebook," Gena Rowlands said she channeled her mother.
"I went through that with my mother, and if Nick hadn't directed the film, I don't think I would have gone for it — it's just too hard," Rowlands told O magazine in 2004. "It was a tough but wonderful movie."
Nike’s quarterly sales and profits slump as it faces shoppers’ sluggish demand for its products
Nike sales and profits slumped in its fiscal first quarter as the sportswear giant wrestles with shoppers' sluggish demand for new sneaker models and other products.
The lackluster results Tuesday came after Nike announced last month that its CEO, John Donahoe, is stepping down on Oct. 13. Company veteran Elliott Hill is coming out of retirement to head up the company.
"A comeback at this scale takes time, but we see early wins — from momentum in key sports to accelerating our pace of newness and innovation," said Matthew Friend, executive vice president and Nike's chief financial officer, in statement. "Our teams are energized as Elliott Hill returns to lead Nike's next stage of growth."
Friend told analysts Tuesday that, given its CEO transition and with three quarters left in the fiscal year, Nike has withdrawn its full-year financial-performance guidance and intends to provide a quarterly outlook for the balance of the fiscal year. It also postponed its investor meeting that had been scheduled for Nov. 19.
Nike has been known for its innovation but in recent years, analysts have said that it has lost its focus on coming up with cool products.
Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail, said that some of the sales decline was due to a weaker consumer economy that has shoppers buying fewer sneakers and not splurging on clothing as they once did.
"Nike has done itself no favors with a lack of focus and oomph in a market where far more effort and exertion is needed to hold onto sales," he said. "There is a general sense that Nike has lost its edge and that the power of its innovation and the quality of its storytelling have both been faded."
Saunders noted that at the same time, smaller rival brands... Read More