Eleanor Coppola dead at 87

Eleanor Coppola dead at 87

Eleanor Coppola has died.

The 87-year-old award-winning filmmaker, who had been married to ‘The Godfather’ director Francis Ford Coppola since 1963, died on Friday (12.04.24) at home in Rutherford, California, surrounded by her family.

No cause of death has been given.

Eleanor and Francis met while working on the set of his 1963 horror film ‘Dementia 13’.

They went on to have three children together, son Gian-Carlo – who died in a boating accident in 1986 at the age of 22 – son Roman, 58, and daughter Sofia, 55.

Eleanor won an Emmy in 1992 for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming – Directing for her behind the scenes documentary of her husband’s 1978 movie ‘Apocalypse Now’.

Speaking about ‘Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse’ in 1997, she told Deadline: “The beginning of the film idea for me was certainly documenting ‘Apocalypse Now’. I had no idea. I’d made some little art films in the early ’70s, but when I got this camera in the Philippines I was just mesmerised, looking through the viewfinder. I really responded to that, so I made different documentaries, because I always loved to shoot.”

All three of her and Francis’ children appeared in his movies.

Gian-Carlo had been working on second-unit photography before his death, Roman has directed several movies and is president of his father’s film company, American Zoetrope and Sofia is the acclaimed filmmaker of movies including ‘Lost In Translation’ and ‘Priscilla’, which she dedicated to her mother.

She skipped the New York Film Festival for the screening of her film ‘Priscilla’ to spend time with her mother in October last year.

In a statement read by producer Youree Henley at the time, Sofia said: “I’m so sorry to not be there with you, but I’m with my mother, to whom this film is dedicated.”