Composer, Conductor. The father of director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire. He collaborated on the music for several of his son's films, notably "The Godfather" (1972) and its sequels, and shared an Academy Award with Nino Rota for "The Godfather Part II" (1974). In accepting the Oscar Coppola thanked his son for hiring him---and himself for siring him. His other credits include "Apocalypse Now" (1979), "The Black Stallion" (1979), "The Outsiders" (1983), "Gardens of Stone" (1987), and "New York Stories" (1989). Coppola was born in Brooklyn, into a family of musicians. After studying at the Manhattan School of Music and at Juilliard, he played first flute for the Detroit Symphony (1936 to 1941) and the NBC Symphony under Arturo Toscanini (1942 to 1948). He was also a longtime conductor-arranger at New York's Radio City Music Hall and during the 1960s he conducted Broadway musicals. In 1981 Coppola composed a mammoth score for the restored version of Abel Gance's silent epic "Napoleon" (1927), and conducted it in road show screenings across the United States. He can be seen briefly in "The Godfather Part III" (1990), conducting the opera "Cavalleria Rusticana" in the film's Sicilian climax. His granddaughter is Oscar-winning writer-director Sofia Coppola.
Composer, Conductor. The father of director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire. He collaborated on the music for several of his son's films, notably "The Godfather" (1972) and its sequels, and shared an Academy Award with Nino Rota for "The Godfather Part II" (1974). In accepting the Oscar Coppola thanked his son for hiring him---and himself for siring him. His other credits include "Apocalypse Now" (1979), "The Black Stallion" (1979), "The Outsiders" (1983), "Gardens of Stone" (1987), and "New York Stories" (1989). Coppola was born in Brooklyn, into a family of musicians. After studying at the Manhattan School of Music and at Juilliard, he played first flute for the Detroit Symphony (1936 to 1941) and the NBC Symphony under Arturo Toscanini (1942 to 1948). He was also a longtime conductor-arranger at New York's Radio City Music Hall and during the 1960s he conducted Broadway musicals. In 1981 Coppola composed a mammoth score for the restored version of Abel Gance's silent epic "Napoleon" (1927), and conducted it in road show screenings across the United States. He can be seen briefly in "The Godfather Part III" (1990), conducting the opera "Cavalleria Rusticana" in the film's Sicilian climax. His granddaughter is Oscar-winning writer-director Sofia Coppola.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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