Francis Ford Coppola was born on April 7, 1939. His father, Carmine Coppola, was a composer, musician, and Oscar winner. Carmine and his wife Italia raised Francis Ford Coppola in a loving, supporting Italian American environment in the New York suburbs. He graduated from Hofstra University where he studied acting and later attended UCLA where he studied filmmaking.
Francis Ford Coppola began directing films in the 1960s. The first mainstream film he directed was a musical, Finian’s Rainbow in 1968. Only four short years later, when he was in his early thirties, he co-wrote and directed The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974). Both won the Oscar for best picture.
In 1979 Francis Ford Coppola directed the Vietnam War movie Apocalypse Now which received mix reviews, but has become thought of as a classic war movie and perhaps the best movie about the Vietnam War.
Francis Ford Coppola turned to teenage films in the early 80s filming S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders and Rumblefish, both in 1983. Forced to cut over an hour of The Outsiders because it wasn’t believed that teenagers would sit through a three hour movie, the film received so-so reviews. It is probably best remembered for helping to launch the careers of the likes of Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, and Patrick Swayze.
In 1998’s Peggy Sue Got Married, Francis Ford Coppola directed two other young rising stars, his nephew Nicolas Cage in a starring role, and Jim Carrey in a small supporting role.
He followed this with such films as New York Stories in 1989, The Godfather Part III in 1990, Bram Stroker’s Dracula in 1992, and The Rainmaker in 1997. Since the mid-90s Francis Ford Coppola has stepped back a bit in the entertainment industry to focus on his other occupations.
He purchased a vineyard in Napa Valley and successfully produces his own line of Coppola wines and has also opened resort hotels in Guatemala and Belize. Coppola co-owns the San Francisco Bay restaurant Rubicon with actors Robin Williams and Robert DeNero. And if all that doesn’t keep him busy enough, Coppola also publishes the literary magazine Zoetrope All-Story.
In 1963 Francis Ford Coppola married Eleanor Coppola and the two are still married – a true feat in Hollywood. They have four children Mary, Roman, Gian-Carlo, and Sofia. Sofia Coppola has become a director in her own right and was nominated for an Academy Award for her 2003 film Lost in Translation.
YUDDY
