C&I is honoring two cinematic greats who tragically left us this August.
The world will never be the same after the death of iconic American actress Gena Rowlands and prolific French actor Alain Delon. Learn more about their vast careers and legacies.
Gena Rowlands
The C&I crew bids a fond farewell to Gena Rowlands, the iconic actress whose credits ranged from guest roles on TV Westerns to acclaimed collaborations with her husband, actor-filmmaker John Cassavetes, to deeply affecting performances in films like the 2004 romantic drama The Notebook and the 1974 classic A Woman Under the Influence.
Rowlands, who passed away August 14 at age 94 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s, began her decades-long career in film and television by guesting in several weekly TV series, including such Westerns as Laramie, Riverboat, Bonanza, and The Virginian. She made her first significant impact with film critics and audiences as the supportive wife of a jailed cowboy in Lonely are The Brave, the classic 1962 neo-Western starring Kirk Douglas and Walter Matthau.
> Learn more about Gena Rowlands’ career.
Gena Rowlands with husband John Cassavetes
Alain Delon
A mainstay of international cinema for over six decades, French actor, producer, and screenwriter Alain Delon starred in such acclaimed films as René Clément’s Purple Noon, Luchino Visconti’s Rocco and His Brothers and The Leopard, and Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai. He also appeared in two entertaining westerns — Texas Across the River (1966), opposite Dean Martin, and Red Sun (1971), opposite Charles Bronson and Toshiro Mifune — and played the title role as the dashing masked swordsman in the 1975 swashbuckler Zorro.
Delon, who passed away August 18 at age 88 in Douchy-Montcorbon, France after a battle with cancer was largely considered an icon of classic French cinema. Dubbed “a French monument” by French President Emmanuel Macron, who paid his respects to the actor on X, Delon’s ability to embody a variety of characters with a unique combination of rugged toughness and tender vulnerability made him a prolific leading man.
> Discover more classic westerns like the ones Delon starred in.
Alain Delon as Zorro in the 1975 film
