aspects of the beloved romantic drama The Notebook has seemingly come true. 93-year-old Gena Rowlands, who played the dementia-stricken older version of in the 2004 hit, is dealing with Alzheimer's disease, according to her son Nick Cassavetes, who also directed the film."I got my mom to play older Allie, and 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 told . "She's in full dementia.