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Francis Ford Coppola (born April 7, 1939) is an American film director.

1 Career 1960 to 1978

Coppola studied film at UCLA and while there, he made numerous short films, including some pornography. In the late 1960s, he started his professional career making low-budget films with Roger Corman and writing screenplays.

In 1971 Coppola won an Academy Award for his screenplay for Patton. However, his name as a filmmaker was made as the co-writer and director of The Godfather ( 1972) and The Godfather Part II ( 19741974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). Events January-February January 5 Dungeons & Dragons officially released. February 4 Patricia Hearst, the 19 year old granddaughter of publisher William Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped), which both won the Academy Award for Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; the awards are voted on by other people within the industry. As is the customary practice in — the latter being the first sequel to do so.

During this period he also wrote the screenplay for the 19741974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). Events January-February January 5 Dungeons & Dragons officially released. February 4 Patricia Hearst, the 19 year old granddaughter of publisher William Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped remakeIn cinema, a remake is a work that has the same story, and often the same title, as a work that was made earlier. In the history of cinema, remakes have generally been considered inferior to the earlier versions by film critics and cinema-goers alike, but of The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby was first published in ( 1925) by the one of America's great short novelists, F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story takes place in New York City and Long Island in the 1920s. It has often been described as the epitome of the " Jazz Age" in Ameri and produced George Lucas's breakthrough film, American GraffitiAmerican Graffiti is a 1973 film directed by George Lucas. Written by Lucas, Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck, it tells the story of a group of small-town middle-class American California teenagers on the last night of summer. It starred Richard Dreyfuss (Cu.

2 Career 1979 to present

Following the success of The Godfather and its sequel, Coppola set about filming an ambitious version of Joseph ConradJoseph Conrad ( December 3, 1857 August 3, 1924) was a Polish-born British novelist. Born Jozef Teodor Nalecz Konrad Korzeniowski on December 3, 1857 in Berdyczow, in what is now Ukraine, he was brought up in Russian-occupied Poland. His father, an impove's Heart of Darkness, set during the Vietnam war. The film, entitled Apocalypse Now ( 1979), was beset by numerous problems, including typhoons, drug abuse and nervous breakdowns; and was delayed so often it was nicknamed Apocalypse Whenever. The film was equally lauded and hated by critics when it finally appeared, and the cost nearly bankrupted Coppola's nascent studio American Zoetrope. The 1991 documentary film , directed by Eleanor Coppola (Francis's wife), Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper , chronicles the difficulties the crew went through making Apocalypse Now, and features behind the scenes footage filmed by Eleanor.

Despite the setbacks and ill health Coppola suffered during the making of Apocalypse Now, he kept up with film projects, presenting in 1981 a restoration of the 1927 film Napoléon that was edited and released in the United States by American Zoetrope. However it wasn't until the experimental musical One from the Heart ( 1982) that he returned to directing. Unfortunately, the film was not a success.

In 1986 Coppola, with George Lucas, directed the Michael Jackson film for Disney theme parks, Captain Eo, which at the time was the most expensive film per minute ever made.

In 1990 he completed the Godfather series with The Godfather Part III, which while not as critically acclaimed as the first two movies, was still a box office success.

Coppola's daughter Sofia is also a filmmaker (see The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation). His nephew Nicolas Cage is an acclaimed actor in his own right.

In recent years, Coppola with his family has extended his talents to winemaking in California's Napa Valley and opening resorts in Guatemala and Belize, inspired by his accommodation in the Philippines during the making of Apocalypse Now, with decor supervised by Eleanor Coppola.