Elanor Coppola, wife of legendary film director Francis Ford Coppola of “The Godfather” fame, who along with her husband ended up raising a family of directors and actors, has passed away at the age of 87. Coppola left behind her mortal coil last Friday while surrounded by members of her family at her home located Rutherford, California, her loved ones announced in a statement. There was no official cause of death provided.
This must be devastating for Elanor’s husband, who I consider to be one of the top five greatest filmmakers of all-time, right up there with Martin Scorsese. I mean, look how deeply ingrained in our culture “The Godfather” and it’s sequel have become in popular culture. You’ll be hard pressed to find a lot of folks who have not seen this highly influential film or feel it’s presence in any serious cinema you allow your eyeballs to indulge.
According to Breitbart:
Eleanor, who grew up in Orange County, California, met Francis while working as an assistant art director on his directorial debut, the Roger Corman-produced 1963 horror film “Dementia 13.” (She had studied design at UCLA.) Within months of dating, Eleanor became pregnant and the couple were wed in Las Vegas in February 1963.
Their first-born, Gian-Carlo, quickly became a regular presence in his father’s films, as did their subsequent children, Roman (born in 1965) and Sofia (born in 1971). After acting in their father’s films and growing up on sets, all would go into the movies.
“I don’t know what the family has given except I hope they’ve set an example of a family encouraging each other in their creative process whatever it may be,” Eleanor went on to say in comments given to The Associated Press in 2017. “It happens in our family that everyone chose to sort of follow in the family business. We weren’t asking them to or expecting them to, but they did. At one point Sofia said, ‘The nut does not fall far from the tree.’”
Gian-Carlo, a man you can see in the background of many of his dear old dad’s movies and begun a career working in second-unit photography, passed away at the tender age of 22, just when life was getting started, due to a boating accident. The boat was being piloted by Griffin O’Neal, son of actor Ryan O’Neal, at the time. O’Neal was ultimately charged and found guilty of negligence in the incident.
Roman directed several movies of his own and regularly collaborates with Wes Anderson. He’s president of his father’s San Francisco-based film company, American Zoetrope. Sofia became one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of her generation as the writer-director of films including “Lost in Translation” and the 2023 release “Priscilla.” Sofia dedicated that film to her mother.
In joining the family business, the Coppola children weren’t just following in their father’s footsteps but their mother’s, too. Beginning on 1979’s “Apocalypse Now,” Eleanor frequently documented the behind-the-scenes life of Francis’ films. The Philippines-set shoot of “Apocalypse Now” lasted 238 days. A typhoon destroyed sets. Martin Sheen had a heart attack. A member of the construction crew died.
Francis Ford Coppola has certainly endured a whole lot of heartache during his life, which he no doubt has used as fuel for his artistic vision and has been a critical part of how he pulls performances out of his actors. This one is going to hurt a lot, so best wishes, thoughts, and prayers to him and the other members of his family.