Photo: The White House / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Coppola, to me, is the rare director who treats cinema as a gamble worth losing everything on. The Godfather films and Apocalypse Now would have been enough for ten careers, yet what I admire most is the stubbornness that followed — quiet experiments like The Conversation, and decades later, backing Megalopolis largely on his own dime. Most filmmakers protect their legacy; he keeps wagering his. That willingness to risk ridicule in his eighties tells you the New Hollywood spirit was never a movement to him — it was a personality trait. I measure directors by how often they bet on themselves, and by that measure nobody outbids Coppola.
Overview
Francis Ford Coppola ( KOH-pə-lə; 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. His accolades include 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.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Francis Ford Coppola
- Name (Japanese)
- フランシス・フォード・コッポラ
- Reading
- ふらんしす・ふぉーど・こっぽら
- Born
- April 7, 1939 (age 87)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Aries / Rabbit
- Origin
- Detroit, Michigan, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- 182 cm
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- film director / film producer / screenwriter / film editor / executive producer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- John L. Miller Great Neck North High School
- University
- Hofstra University
Awards & achievements
- 1971 Writers Guild of America Award
- 2002 Donostia Award
- Directors Guild of America Award
- 2015 Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts
- 2013 Praemium Imperiale
- 1975 Academy Award for Best Director
- 1971 Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay
- 1973 Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | The Godfather | — | |
| Notable work | Rumble Fish | — | |
| Notable work | Apocalypse Now | — | |
| Notable work | The Conversation | — | |
| Notable work | Megalopolis | — | |
| Notable work | Bram Stoker's Dracula | — |
6. Links
Film director — see all → · Film producer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.