Current:Home > BackEleanor Coppola, matriarch of a filmmaking family, dies at 87-InfoLens
Eleanor Coppola, matriarch of a filmmaking family, dies at 87
View Date:2024-12-23 15:31:16
Eleanor Coppola, who documented the making of some of her husband Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic films, including the infamously tortured production of “Apocalypse Now,” and who raised a family of filmmakers, has died. She was 87.
Coppola died Friday surrounded by family at home in Rutherford, California, her family announced in a statement. No cause of death was given.
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 told 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, who’s seen in the background of many of his father’s films and had begun doing second-unit photography, died at the age of 22 in a 1986 boating accident. He was killed while riding in a boat piloted by Griffin O’Neal, son of Ryan O’Neal, who was found guilty of negligence.
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.
Eleanor documented much of the chaos in what would become one of the most famous making-of films about moviemaking, 1991’s “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse.”
“I was just trying to keep myself occupied with something to do because we were out there for so long,” Eleanor told CNN in 1991. “They wanted five minutes for a TV promotional or something and I thought sooner of later I could get five minutes of film and then it went on to 15 minutes.”
“I just kept shooting but I had no idea ... the evolution of myself that I saw with my camera,” continued Eleanor, who ended up shooting 60 hours worth of footage. “So, it was a surprise for both of us and a life changing experience.”
Eleanor also published “Notes: On the Making of ‘Apocalypse Now’” in 1979. While the film focused on the film set tumult, the book charted some of Eleanor’s inner turmoil, including the challenges of being married to a larger-than-life figure. She wrote of being a “woman isolated from my friends, my affairs and my projects” during their year in Manilla. She also frankly discusses Francis having an extramarital affair.
“There is part of me that has been waiting for Francis to leave me, or die, so that I can get my life the way I want it,” wrote Eleanor. “I wonder if I have the guts to get it the way I want it with him in it.”
They remained together, though, throughout her life. And Eleanor continued to seek out creative outlets for herself. She documented several more of her husband’s films, as well as Roman’s “CQ” and Sofia’s “Marie Antoinette.” She wrote a memoir in 2008, “Notes on a Life.”
In 2016, at the age of 80, Eleanor made her narrative debut in “Paris Can Wait,” a romantic comedy starring Diane Lane. She followed that up with “Love Is Love Is Love” in 2020. Eleanor had initially set out only to write the screenplay to “Paris Can Wait.”
“One morning at the breakfast table my husband said, ‘Well you should direct it.’ I was totally startled,” Eleanor told The AP. “But I said ‘Well, I never wrote a script before and I’ve never directed, why not?’ I was kind of saying ‘why not’ to everything.”
Eleanor died just as Francis is preparing a long-planned, self-financed epic, “Metropolis,” which is to premiere next month at the Cannes Film Festival.
She is survived by her husband; her son Roman and his wife, Jen, their children, Pascale, Marcello and Alessandro; her daughter Sofia and her husband, Thomas, their children Romy and Cosima; her granddaughter Gia and her husband, Honor, and their child Beaumont; and by her brother William Neil and his wife, Lisa.
Eleanor recently completed her third memoir, the family said. In the manuscript she wrote:
“I appreciate how my unexpected life has stretched and pulled me in so many extraordinary ways and taken me in a multitude of directions beyond my wildest imaginings.”
veryGood! (7122)
Related
- Denver district attorney is investigating the leak of voting passwords in Colorado
- CBP One app becomes main portal to U.S. asylum system under Biden border strategy
- A Look at All the Celeb Couples Who Had to Work Together After Breaking Up
- Bezos Landed, Thanked Amazon Workers And Shoppers For Paying, Gave Away $200 Million
- Prominent conservative lawyer Ted Olson, who argued Bush recount and same-sex marriage cases, dies
- OnlyFans Says It Will Ban Sexually Explicit Content
- Courteney Cox Reveals Getting Facial Fillers Are Her Biggest Beauty Regret
- Get a $138 J.Crew Skirt for $21, a $90 Cashmere Sweater for $35, and More Can't-Miss Deals
- Denzel Washington Will Star in Black Panther 3 Before Retirement
- Sarah Ferguson Shares Royally Sweet Update on Queen Elizabeth II's Corgis
Ranking
- Jennifer Garner Details Navigating Grief 7 Months After Death of Her Dad William Garner
- Antisemitic Posts Are Rarely Removed By Social Media Companies, A Study Finds
- Biden administration blames Trump in part for chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal
- Klaus Teuber, creator behind popular Catan board game, dies at age 70
- Vegas Sphere reports revenue decline despite hosting UFC 306, Eagles residency
- Angela Bassett's Stylist Jennifer Austin Reveals the Secrets to Dressing For Black Tie Events
- 'Startup Wife' Satirizes Tech Culture And Boardroom Sexism — From Experience
- This Remake Of A Beloved Game Has The Style — But Lacks A Little Substance
Recommendation
-
Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight odds will shift the longer the heavyweight bout goes
-
Bezos Landed, Thanked Amazon Workers And Shoppers For Paying, Gave Away $200 Million
-
Easter avalanche in French Alps kills 6, authorities say
-
Toronto International Film Festival announces 2023 movie lineup amid Hollywood strikes
-
Jury awards Abu Ghraib detainees $42 million, holds contractor responsible
-
U.S. balks as Russian official under international arrest warrant claims Ukrainian kids kidnapped for their safety
-
In China, Kids Are Limited To Playing Video Games For Only 3 Hours Per Week
-
VH1's The X-Life Star Denise Russo Dead at 44