Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola

Actor, director and producer

Born April 7, 1939

Place: Detroit, USA

His father: Composer and Musician Carmine Coppola

His mother: an actress

Francis Ford Coppola grew in a neighborhood of new York in the breast of an italian-american family. 

Francis Ford Coppola graduated with a degree in drama from Hofstra University, and did graduate work at UCLA in filmmaking

His daughter Sofia Coppola is also an actress and director. 

Francis Ford Coppola is the uncle of Nicolas Cage, Christophe Coppola, Marc Coppola and Jason Schwartzman. 

Francis suffered from poliomyelitis at the age of 10, losing thus the use of his left arm.. 

Francis Ford Coppola directed his first movies in 8 mm.  And later he entered the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles)

1969 Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas found "American Zoetrope", a movies production company, based in San Francisco. 

1972 Coppola's film The Godfather became one of the most important movies in history. He won an Oscar for writing the screenplay with Mario Puzo.

The film was also a Best Picture Academy Award-winner, and also brought Coppola a Best Director Oscar nomination

1979 Francis Ford Coppola won his second Palme d’Or in Cannes, as the director of Apocalypse

1986 His son Giovanni died in a boating accident.

1996 Francis Ford Coppola was the president of the jury at the 49 International Film Festival of Cannes. 

2005  Francis Ford Coppola's San Francisco-based American Zoetrope Productions closed in December 2004. The production center, founded as an alternative to commercial Hollywood, was co-created in 1969 by Coppola, the "Godfather" director; George Lucas, the "Star Wars" director; and Walter Murch, an award-winning sound designer. It is expected to reopen under the name ZAP Productions, focusing on DVD production.