Francis Ford Coppola

Biography

Francis Ford Coppola was born in 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, but grew up in a New York suburb in a creative, supportive Italian-American family. His father, 'Carmine Coppola' (qv), was a composer and musician. His mother, 'Italia Coppola' (qv) (née Pennino), had been an actress. Francis Ford Coppola graduated with a degree in drama from Hofstra University, and did graduate work at UCLA in filmmaking. He was training as assistant with filmmaker 'Roger Corman' (qv), working in such capacities as sound-man, dialogue director, associate producer and, eventually, director of _Dementia 13 (1963)_ (qv), Coppola's first feature film. During the next four years, Coppola was involved in a variety of script collaborations, including writing an adaptation of "This Property is Condemned" by 'Tennessee Williams' (qv) (with 'Fred Coe' (qv) and 'Edith Sommer (I)' (qv)), and screenplays for _Paris brûle-t-il? (1966)_ (qv) and _Patton (1970)_ (qv), the film for which Coppola won a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award. In 1966, Coppola's 2nd film brought him critical acclaim and a Master of Fine Arts degree. In 1969, Coppola and 'George Lucas (I)' (qv) established American Zoetrope, an independent film production company based in San Francisco. The company's first project was _THX 1138 (1971)_ (qv), produced by Coppola and directed by Lucas. Coppola also produced the second film that Lucas directed, _American Graffiti (1973)_ (qv), in 1973. This movie got five Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture. In 1971, Coppola's film _The Godfather (1972)_ (qv) became one of the highest-grossing movies in history and brought him an Oscar for writing the screenplay with 'Mario Puzo' (qv) The film was a Best Picture Academy Award-winner, and also brought Coppola a Best Director Oscar nomination. Following his work on the screenplay for _The Great Gatsby (1974)_ (qv), Coppola's next film was _The Conversation (1974)_ (qv), which was honored with the Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival, and brought Coppola Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay Oscar nominations. Also released that year, _The Godfather: Part II (1974)_ (qv), rivaled the success of _The Godfather (1972)_ (qv), and won six Academy Awards, bringing Coppola Oscars as a producer, director and writer. Coppola then began work on his most ambitious film, _Apocalypse Now (1979)_ (qv), a Vietnam War epic that was inspired by 'Joseph Conrad (I)' (qv)'s _Heart of Darkness (1993) (TV)_ (qv). Released in 1979, the acclaimed film won a Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival, and two Academy Awards. Also that year, Coppola executive produced the hit _The Black Stallion (1979)_ (qv). With 'George Lucas (I)' (qv), Coppola executive produced _Kagemusha (1980)_ (qv), directed by 'Akira Kurosawa' (qv), and _Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)_ (qv), directed by 'Paul Schrader (I)' (qv) and based on the life and writings of 'Yukio Mishima' (qv). Coppola also executive produced such films as _The Escape Artist (1982)_ (qv), _Hammett (1982)_ (qv) _The Black Stallion Returns (1983)_ (qv), _Barfly (1987)_ (qv), _Wind (1992/I)_ (qv), _The Secret Garden (1993)_ (qv), etc. He helped to make a star of his nephew, 'Nicolas Cage' (qv). Personal tragedy hit in 1986 when his son Gio died in a boating accident. Francis Ford Coppola is one of America's most erratic, energetic and controversial filmmakers.