Gena Rowlands is no saleswoman. She does not spew pat sound bites to promote the upcoming video release of five films directed by her late husband, John Cassavetes. She is not, as the industry calls public relations wizards, a spin doctor.
In fact, Rowlands still finds it difficult to talk about Cassavetes, who died in February 1989 from cirrhosis of the liver at age 59. Rowlands was by his side when he died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.Rowlands, 56, said she still cannot watch "A Woman Under the Influence," which earned her an Oscar nomination and will be available on video Wednesday. Nor can she bear to watch any of the other four films to be released later this year and early next year: "Shadows," "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie," "Faces" and "Opening Night." Rowlands also stars in the latter two films.
Eating lunch at a trendy Melrose Avenue restaurant, Rowlands' emotional turmoil is masked by a calm, almost ethereal demeanor. In a loose black pants outfit with gold studs on the jacket, her lush blond hair pulled back and fingernails painted red, Rowlands is Grace Kelly with an edge.
"What's important about John's films is that nobody deals with anything emotional right now," Rowlands said, sipping cold cucumber soup and nursing a vodka on the rocks. "People just say, `Everything's fine. Let's look the other way.' "
Rowlands, called the "greatest living film actress" by director Ida Lupino, has always taken roles that require a display of deep emotion - from Mabel Longhetti, a middle-class housewife who suffers a breakdown in "A Woman Under the Influence" to the starring role in the television production of "The Betty Ford Story."
Rowlands was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her role as Longhetti and won an Emmy this year for "The Betty Ford Story."
It was Longhetti's struggle over madness and the way her family handled it that still gets to Rowlands, who recalled that more than a year after the movie was released in 1974, people would approach her on the street to talk about the role.
"Of all the parts I've done, that affected me, my emotions, most deeply," Rowlands said. "That character was written so deeply, so close to the bone."
Ben Gazzara, who with Peter Falk, starred in many Cassavetes films, described Rowlands' performance in "A Woman Under the Influence" as near genius.
"Her attack on insanity was brilliant," Gazzara said. "I was surprised at her choices. They went against every choice. And to find the humor in psychosis was terrific."
Gazzara starred with Rowlands in the 1990-91 Los Angeles production of "Love Letters." The three times the actors performed in the two-character play, the theater was sold out.
Although Rowlands does not talk about her three-decade relationship with Cassavetes - in fact, her publicist, Esme Chandlee, said before lunch that the subject was off limits - the conversation about their films together at times gave her reason to pause as she put on her sunglasses.
"A great deal of love was poured into those films," Rowlands said of the movies to be released. "I don't need to see them. I still can't even look at them. But nobody can take them away from me."
Cassavetes, a maverick independent filmmaker with a free-wheeling yet intimate style, is considered to have changed the face of American cinema with his alternative, anti-Hollywood approach, influencing a generation of American filmmakers such as Peter Bogdanovich.
His use of grainy film stock, improvisation and encouragement of actors to push their performances beyond their emotional limits earned him praise and criticism. "Shadows" was Cassavetes' directing debut, which he financed with his salary from the television detective series "Johnny Staccato."
Cinematographer and producer Al Ruban, who worked with Cassavetes for more than 30 years, said he understands Rowlands' reluctance to talk about Cassavetes.
"She doesn't really have a chance, being in the position she's in, to let life take over," Ruban said. "Everyone wants to talk about the films. You've got to steal yourself. Everything she does just brings back all those memories."
Although Cassavetes directed the films, they equally belong to Rowlands. She worked to financially support the pictures and agreed to allow their home to be mortgaged to pay for some of them, said Ruban, a partner in Faces Distribution, a company headed by Rowlands that owns the five films to be released on video.
"This is a very gutsy lady," Ruban said. "She doesn't try and force herself on you. He would sit down and write the stories, but it really was a collaborative effort. She develops the character.
"Even when they didn't get along, they got along," Ruban said of Rowlands and Cassavetes. "She is very opinionated when necessary. She was his match in a very productive way."
Added Gazzara: "She demanded her space, and I think they had rip-roaring arguments. And the result was brilliant."
Actress Tyne Daly, who worked with Rowlands in the television miniseries "Face of a Stranger," said she admired her co-star's inner strength.
"She inspires envy in a lot of people," Daly said. "It's the kind of coolness she has."
Daly said she noticed Rowlands at a luncheon before they began working together on the miniseries, for which Rowlands won an Emmy.
"The room was packed," Daly said. "I looked into the room and there's Gena, far off in the back. But I noticed her..."