Coppola, Francis Ford

Early life

Francis Ford Coppola was born on April 7, 1939 in Detroit , Michigan . Father Carmine Coppola (1910–1991) ^[2] , flutist from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra , mother is Italy (nee Pennino; 1912–2004). Coppola was the second of three children: his elder brother - Augustus Coppola (father of Nicolas Cage ), younger sister - actress Talia Shire . Born into a family of immigrants of Italian descent, his grandfather came to the United States from Bernalda , Basilicata ^[3] . His maternal grandfather, the popular Italian composer Francesco Pennino, emigrated from Naples ^[4] . Coppola received his middle name in honor of Henry Ford , not only because he was born at Henry Ford Hospital , but also because of the association of his father’s musician with a car manufacturer. The fact is that at the time of the birth of Francis, his father was a flutist, as well as an arranger and assistant director of the orchestra, who performed under the auspices of the Ford Motor Company ^{[5] [6] [7]} . Two years after Coppola’s birth, his father was appointed chief flute player by the NBC Symphony Orchestra , and the family moved to New York, settling in Woodsite ( Queens ), where Coppola spent the rest of his childhood.

As a boy, Francis fell ill with polio and was bedridden for a longer period of his childhood, which allowed him to develop his imagination while watching productions of the home puppet theater. Reading the play The Streetcar Named Desire at the age of fifteen played an important role in the development of his interest in the theater ^[8] . He was fond of making films, mounted from home shooting on 8-mm film ^[9] . As a child, Coppola was a mediocre student, but he was so interested in technology and engineering that his friends called him “Science” ( eng. Science ) ^[10] . He was engaged in music, played the tuba and won a musical scholarship of the New York Military Academy ^[9] . In general, Coppola changed 23 schools ^[11] , before he eventually graduated from Great Neck North High School ^[12] . In 1955 he entered the Hofstra College studied theater art. There he received a scholarship on drama. This contributed to his interest in studying theater direction, despite the disapproval of his father, who wanted Francis to study engineering ^[13] . Coppola was deeply impressed when he saw Sergei Eisenstein ’s film “ October: Ten Days That Shook the World, ” and he was especially shocked by the quality of the film’s editing . It was at this time that Coppola decided that he would be involved in cinema, and not theater. ^[13] Coppola says that he was strongly influenced by his brother Augustus and was going to become a writer ^[11] , he will study at his brother's alma mater : at Hofstra College and at the Film School of the University of California at Los Angeles .

In 1962, Coppola assisted the famous director Roger Korman , and in 1963 he made the first film, Madness 13 . The sensation was made by the film “The Godfather ”, staged in 1972 based on the eponymous novel by Mario Puzo . Marlon Brando and Al Pacino played the lead roles. In the future, this film received two more sequels.

In 1975, Coppola acquired a manor with vineyards in Napa County , California , and began winemaking. Today, its wineries produce more than ten varieties of wines ^[14] . Sparkling wine Sofia ^[15] he named after his daughter Sofia Coppola .

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