Francis Ford Coppola Biography

One of the most influential American directors of the 20th century. Let’s read about the family, education, career and private life of Francis Ford Coppola.

Director Aug 17, 2024 0 39 Add to Reading List

Name	Francis Ford Coppola
Parents	Italia Pennino and Carmine Coppola
Movies	The Godfather, Apocalypse Now...
Awards	Oscar, Golden Globes, BAFTA...
Spouse	Eleanor Jessie Neil (d. 1963)
Children	Gian-Carlo Coppola (1963-1986), Roman Coppola (1965), Sofia Coppola (1971)
Height	5' 9" feet

The place and date of Francis Ford Coppola’s birth was Detroit, Michigan on the 7th April,1939. His ancestors came from Italy and they were artists.

Family of Francis Ford:

His father Carmine Coppola who played the flute for Detroit Symphony Orchestra is a flutist that used to play first flute in Arturo Toscanini ‘s orchestra. He composed music for his son’s movies.

An older brother August Coppola as well as a younger sister Talia Shire who is an actress were among the members of this family. Bernalda, Baslicata was where his paternal grandparents originated from while his maternal grandfather, Francesco Pennino, a popular Italian composer came from Naples.

Thus, he spent all his childhood in Woodside (Queens), where his father became a principal flutist in the NBC Symphony Orchestra two years after his birth.

ATTACKED BY POLIO:

Bedridden with polio at the age of ten, he had nothing to do but animate puppets and edit films made by family members using a tape recorder.

STUDIES:

He received an education at Hofstra University majoring in drama in 1960 , and later attended UCLA film school . Even then he started working as a director/producer assistant for Roger Corman , famous B movie director.

SCRIPT WRITER:

This led to him winning Samuel Goldwyn Award’s adoptive parentage screenwriting lessons began. There are some erotic short films from that time such as The Pepper (1961). In addition to this, he also did editing and dubbing work on Soviet adventure films which were brought by Roger Corman’s American International pictures over here when they began making Young Racers (1963) .

In California again he signed up with Seven Arts company to write some scripts that would lead to Condemned Property ( Sidney Pollack , 1966), Paris is Burning (R. Clément , id.), Reflections in a Golden Eye ( John Huston , 1967), and Patton (F. Schaffner , 1970). As his second film, this company allowed him to direct You’re a big boy now (1967) about an inhibited, bumbling young chap’s relationships with his family and women as a quick comedy.

Director:

Having started a film production company of his own or working for Paramount, Universal and other major studios. This work drew attention to him as one of the most prominent filmmakers in the 1970s. Despite some occasional negative reviews and high commercial failure after Heartbreak , 1981, he had to sell his studios.

Movies of Fransic Ford:

Francis Ford Coppola has been internationally successful and won several Academy Awards thanks to films such as The Conversation (1974), The Godfather Part II (1974) Apocalypse Now (1979). Here Francis Ford Coppola reveals himself a great master of fictional cinema, brilliant actors’ director, and together with directors of photography Gordon Willis and Vittorio Storaro, set decorator Dean Tavoularis he is an artist who feels the texture of objects completely through while having operatic lyricism which bears his Italian origins: Outsiders (1983), Blu-ray.com - The Outsiders Blu-ray : C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze (1983), Cotton Club (1984), Peggy Sue Got Married (1988), Tucker: A Man And His Dream (1988) , The Godfather Part III (1990), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).

Fransic Ford as a Producer:

Notably, He also functioned as producer for some major works like George Lucas' American Graffiti(1974); The Black Stallion(1980); a reconstruction by Abel Gance of his film “Napoleon” made in 1927; Man from Chinatown(1985) by Wim Wenders; Koyaanisqatsi(2001) – an experimental film without actors but with Philip Glass music etc.

In 1990 he again worked on “The Godfather Part III” where Sofia played Michael Corleone’s heir . However it was with “Dracula” in 1992 that the critics and general public again recognized his talent.

In 1997, he directed an adaptation of John Grisham's novel The Rainmaker. In addition, he produced Sleepy Hollow, a movie by Tim Burton (1999).

"I think cinema, movies and magic have always been closely associated. The first people who made movies were magicians"

Francis Ford Coppola

Youth Without Youth, a melodrama starring Tim Roth and Alexandra Maria Lara, marked his return to film production after almost ten years. It was shot on location in Romania with a crew composed of Europeans.

Another project by him was Tetro which he shoot in Argentina in 2008. This film showcased Italian immigration in Buenos Aires at the beginning of the 20th century and featured Vincent Gallo as well as Maribel Verdú from Spain; and Twixt which became available to movie lovers in 2012 due to its release being made shortly after it had been presented at several film festivals at the end of 2011.

After that, Francis Ford Coppola established wineries in California’s Napa Valley called Niebaum-Coppola and produced a line of sauces and pastas (Mammarella ). He also opened hotels in Guatemala, Belize Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. On March 1, 2012 he inaugurated his first European hotel located in Italy. The Palazzo Margherita is situated on Bernalda , her grandfather Agostino Coppola’s hometown.

Awards:

He presented Apocalypse Now Redux, an updated version of his Apocalypse Now during the Cannes Film Festival where it won five Oscars for Best Supporting Actor (Robert Duvall), Cinematography (Vittorio Storaro), Sound Mixing (Walter Murch et al.), Editing (Richard Marks et al.) and Adapted Screenplay (John Milius). It took three years for this cult movie to be made by means of spending twenty-seven million dollars under extremely challenging circumstances: four typhoons, six heart attacks, one hurricane plus countless other atrocities.

On May 6th, 2015 he received Princess Asturias Award for Arts for his outstanding contribution to cinema. The jury praised him as an "exceptional narrator" and a "essential director" who has shaped the industry's transformation and contradictions.

Married to Eleanor:

He was married to Eleanor Jessie Neil in 1963.

Francis Ford Children's Success:

They are parents for Gian-Carlo, Roman as well as Sofia. His daughter Sofia Coppola had become a renowned director and screenwriter after her films came out such as The Virgin Suicides , Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette . He is another of his sons who has also directed some movies. His sister Talia Shire plays the part of Adrian in Rocky series; Nicolas Cage , his nephew, who is a famous actor and Jason Schwartzman (Talia's child) also works in independent films.

Summary:

Noted American film director known for directing such classic movies like The Godfather, Apocalypse Now . As a producer and screenwriter, Coppola is seen as an important person in the time of American cinema termed "New Hollywood". In the course of his career, he has received many awards and honors among them several Academy Awards.

Did you know that...

Coppola was not Paramount Pictures’ first choice for the direction of The Godfather? Elia Kazan, Arthur Penn, Richard Brooks and Costa-Gavras all turned down the job.