Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola ( ; born April 7, 1939) is an American filmmaker. One of the leading figures of the New Hollywood, Coppola is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema.}} Coppola is the recipient of five Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and two Palmes d'Or, in addition to nominations for two Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award. Coppola was honored with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 2010, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2024, and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2025.

Coppola started his career directing ''Dementia 13'' (1963) and co-writing ''Patton'' (1970), the latter of which earned him and Edmund H. North the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Coppola's reputation as a filmmaker was cemented with the release of ''The Godfather'' (1972) and ''The Godfather Part II'' (1974) which both earned Academy Awards for Best Picture, and the latter earned him Best Director. The films revolutionized the gangster genre. Coppola released the thriller ''The Conversation'' (1974), which received the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Coppola's next film, the Vietnam War epic ''Apocalypse Now'' (1979), had a notoriously lengthy and strenuous production and also won the Palme d'Or, making Coppola one of only ten filmmakers to have won the award twice. He was responsible for several controversies whilst filming Apocalypse Now, including illegally hiring a grave robber to provide real human corpses for use as props in the film and also the ritualistic killing of a water buffalo. He later directed films such as ''The Outsiders'' and ''Rumble Fish'' (both 1983), ''The Cotton Club'' (1984), ''Peggy Sue Got Married'' (1986), ''The Godfather Part III'' (1990), ''Bram Stoker's Dracula'' (1992), and ''The Rainmaker'' (1997). He also produced ''American Graffiti'' (1973), ''The Black Stallion'' (1979), and ''The Secret Garden'' (1993). Dissatisfied with the studio system, he transitioned to independent and experimental filmmaking with ''Youth Without Youth'' (2007), ''Tetro'' (2009), ''Twixt'' (2011), and ''Megalopolis'' (2024).

Coppola's father Carmine was a composer whose music featured in his son's films. Many of his relatives have found success in film: his sister Talia Shire is an actress, his daughter Sofia is a director, his son Roman is a screenwriter and his nephews Jason Schwartzman and Nicolas Cage are actors. Coppola resides in Napa, California, and since the 2010s has been a vintner, owning a family-branded winery of his own. Provided by Wikipedia