Watch Francis Ford Coppola Videos

Francis Ford Coppola ( /ˈkoʊpələ/ koh-pə-lə; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors. He epitomized the group of filmmakers known as the New Hollywood, that includes George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Robert Altman, Woody Allen, William Friedkin, Peter Bogdanovich, and Brian De Palma who emerged in the early 1970s with unconventional ideas that challenged contemporary film-making. He co-wrote the script for Patton (1970), which won an Academy... MORE

Francis Ford Coppola ( /ˈkoʊpələ/ koh-pə-lə; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors. He epitomized the group of filmmakers known as the New Hollywood, that includes George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Robert Altman, Woody Allen, William Friedkin, Peter Bogdanovich, and Brian De Palma who emerged in the early 1970s with unconventional ideas that challenged contemporary film-making. He co-wrote the script for Patton (1970), which won an Academy Award for Original Screenplay. His directorial fame escalated with the release of The Godfather (1972), a film which revolutionized movie-making in the gangster genre, earning praise from critics and public alike. It won three Academy Awards, including his second, for Best Adapted Screenplay, and was instrumental in cementing his position as a prominent American film director. Coppola followed it with a critically successful sequel, The Godfather Part II (1974), which became the first sequel to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. The film was highly praised and won him three Academy Awards—for Best LESS