Francis Ford Coppola's Birthday
On April 7, 1939, in Detroit, Michigan, in the family of Carmine Coppola, a flutist in a symphony orchestra, and his wife Italy, the daughter of the famous Neapolitan composer Francesco Pennino, the second son, Francis Ford, was born. In 1941, Carmine Coppola was appointed principal flute player of the NBC Symphony, and the family moved to New York. At the age of 9, Francis was almost paralyzed due to polio. He was bedridden for over a year, during which time he became fascinated with comics, puppets, ventriloquism and television. Thanks to his father and musical heritage, little Francis learned to play the tuba so well that he won a musical scholarship to the New York Military Academy.
In 1955, Coppola enrolled at Hoffstra University in New York City, where he studied theater arts. Very quickly, Francis became the leader of the university's student theater. Under his direction, a new play was staged every week. In addition to the student theater, Coppola also founded a film studio at the university. Coppola's active work in the field of theater and cinema earned him several awards, and after graduating from the university in 1959, he received a bachelor's degree in theater arts. In the same year, Coppola enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles, graduating with a Master's degree in film.
Francis combined his studies at the university with his work as an assistant to such a director as Roger Corman, known for his prolific, though not very pretentious taste. However, not only in the creative biography of Coppola there is a stage of work as an "apprentice" for this director. Many American directors have gone through this stage, including Martin Scorsese and James Cameron. Francis Ford was involved in the creation of a number of pictures by Roger Corman, until finally, in 1962, he made his first full-length feature film "The Bellboy and the Playgirls". Some artistic merits in this film were not noticed. Apparently, the influence of Roger Corman affected. But, as they say, bad luck is the beginning.
To date, Francis Ford Coppola has shot 22 self-made feature films as a film director. And in two more film almanacs, F.F. Coppola acted as a co-director. Of the total number of films shot by Coppola, 4 pictures entered the Golden Thousand, including "Apocalypse Now", "The Godfather, Parts I and II", "The Conversation". Thanks to this indicator, Francis Ford Coppola is included in the list of 100 greatest directors of world cinema compiled by FilmGourmand. Francis Ford Coppola's directing activity has been marked by 53 international film awards, including such prestigious awards as 2 Oscars, 2 Golden Globes, 2 Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, the Golden Shell of the San Sebastian Film Festival, the David di Donatello Award of the Italian Film Academy, the BAFTA Award of the British film academy, as well as honorary (for the total contribution to world film production) awards: the Golden Eagle (Russia), the Golden Lion of the Venice Film Festival, the San Sebastian Film Festival Award, the Oscar Award.
In honor of the birthday of the great Master, according to the established tradition, we want to remind fans of his work of the frames from his best films included in the Golden Thousand.
