I’m not going to lie and say I absolutely adored Gena Rowlands‘ many sterling performances over the years. I always admired her but never quite fell for her.

I respected the hell out of her chops — she was obviously a top-of-the-line, Barrymore- or Streep-level performer and then some — but I never felt all that emotionally entwined with her characters. She always seemed propelled by ferocious integrity, intensity and technique, and less propelled by an interest in reaching out to Joe and Jane Popcorn.

To keep the engine chugging for 94 years in relatively good health (except for the awful Alzheimers affliction of the last few) is a blessed thing. Good for Rowlands living a long full one. Her last gig (Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks) was 10 years ago.

Rowlands peaked between the late ’60s and late ’80s — call it 20 years. Her Mount Everest achievement was A Woman Under the Influence (’74), made when she was 43 or so. Her most vulnerable, least attention-seeking performance was as Kirk Douglas‘s understanding but frustrated girlfriend in Lonely Are The Brave (’62), made when she was 32 or thereabouts.

10 Rowlands essentials: Faces, Minnie and Moskowitz, A Woman Under the Influence, Opening Night, The Brink’s Job, Gloria, Tempest, Love Streams, Light of Day. Another Woman.