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Francis Ford Coppola Facts

Francis Ford Coppola Facts
Francis Ford Coppola is an American screenwriter, producer and director best known for his work on the 1972 film The Godfather. He was born April 7th, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, to Carmine Coppola and Italia Coppola. As a boy Francis contracted polio which led to him spending a lot of time in bed. He used the time to create puppet theater plays. At 15 he read A Streetcar Named Desire and developed an interest in theater and film. He began making 8mm movies. He attended several schools and earned a theater degree. He made his first feature in 1963 on a shoestring budget titled Dementia 13, which became a cult film for horror lovers.
Interesting Francis Ford Coppola Facts:
Francis Ford Coppola earned a music scholarship to the New York Military Academy. He attended Hofstra and graduated in 1960, and then enrolled in UCLA Film School.
In 1968 Francis Ford Coppola directed the musical Finian's Rainbow. It was a successful movie.
In 1970 Francis Ford Coppola won an Academy Award for screenwriting for the film Patton.
In 1972 Francis Ford Coppola's most famous works - The Godfather - was released. The film was based on an Italian mafia family - the Corleones. It starred Marlon Brando and Al Pacino.
Francis Ford Coppola won Best Screenplay at the Oscars for The Godfather. It also won for the Best Picture category.
In 1974 The Godfather II was released. It was very successful as well.
Francis Ford Coppola worked on several films in the 1970s and 1980s that were very successful including Apocalypse Now, Heart of Darkness, The Black Stallion, The Outsiders, and The Cotton Club.
The Godfather III was released in 1990.
In the 1990s Francis Ford Coppola released Bram Stoker's Dracula, a classic vampire film.
In 1997 Francis Ford Coppola released The Rainmaker. Following this film he took a break from directing films and focused on his winery in California.
In 1999 Coppola produced his daughter Sofia Coppola's first directorial role in The Virgin Suicides.
Francis Ford Coppola has many famous relatives in the film industry including Nicolas Cage (nephew), Sofia Coppola (daughter), and Talia Shire (sister).
Francis Ford Coppola married Eleanor Jessie Neil in 1963. They have three children including Gian-Carlo, Roman, and Sofia. Gian-Carlo died in a boating accident in 1986.
Francis Ford Coppola is considered to have played a major role in the New Hollywood wave of film.
Francis' middle name was used because his father was a flautist for the Ford Motor Company's 'The Ford Sunday Evening Hour'.
Coppola was nicknamed Science when he was still a student because of his love of technology and engineering.
Francis Ford Coppola started the studio Zoetrope in 1969. The studio used digital technology and HDTV for filmmaking.
In 1974 Francis Ford Coppola received two Oscar nominations for Best Director. The films were The Conversation and The Godfather Part II. He won the award for The Godfather Part II.
The Godfather Part IV was not made because the creator Mario Puzo died before it could be written, although Andy Garcia has claimed it was almost produced.


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