Coppola, Francis Ford

Born: 7 April 1939

Director, Screenwriter
Born in Detroit, USA.

Francis Ford Coppola, like his contemporaries Martin Scorsese, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, studied films and filmmaking in college.

Coppola's first break came as a screenwriter; he won his first Oscar for writing Patton, the movie based on the life of George S. Patton, Jr. By the late 1960s Coppola had formed his own production company, and in 1972 he released The Godfather, a box office smash and often hailed as one of the best movies of the 1970s (along with two of his other films, 1974's The Conversation, and 1979's Apocalypse Now). In spite of what is now a spotty record, Coppola is considered one of the greats in the American movie business, more active as a producer these days than as a writer or director.

Coppola is the brother of actress Talia Shire, the uncle of actor Nicolas Cage, and the son of composer Carmine Coppola... Coppola's daughter, Sofia Coppola, made her directorial and screenwriting debut in 1999 with The Virgin Suicides and directed the critically-acclaimed Lost in Translation (2003, starring Bill Murray).

More Italian Celebrities(Alphabetical listing)

1. Adonis, Joe - Mobster
2. Agnelli, Gianni - Industrialist, principal shareholder of Fiat.
3. Alda, Alan - Actor, writer and director
4. Andretti, Mario - Racecar driver
5. Antonioni, Michelangelo - Director, writer and painter.
6. Bancroft, Anne - Actress.
7. Bancroft, Anne - Actress.
8. Bellucci, Monica - Actress
9. Benigni, Roberto - Actor, Writer, Director.
10. Bennett, Tony - Singer
11. Berra, Yogi - Baseball player and manager.
12. Bertolucci, Bernardo - Film director and screenwriter
13. Bocelli, Andrea - Singer, Tenor
14. Bon Jovi, Jon - Musician, actor.
15. Bon Jovi, Jon - Musician and actor.
16. Bonaparte, Napoleon - Military and political leader
17. Bono, Sonny - Singer, congressman
18. Broccoli, Albert "Cubby" - Producer of all James Bond movies
19. Caboto, Giovanni (John Cabot) - Explorer, discoverer of Canada.
20. Cage, Nicholas - Actor
21. Capone, Al (Alphonse) - Famous mobster
22. Capra, Frank - Director
23. Cardinale, Claudia - Actress.
24. Caruso, Enrico - Tenor
25. Celentano, Adriano - Singer, songwriter, comedian and actor. Born in Milan, Italy.
26. Colombo, Cristoforo - Discoverer of the New World.
27. Como, Perry - Singer
28. Coppola, Francis Ford - Director, Screenwriter
29. Danza, Tony - Actor.
30. De Niro, Robert - Actor, director and producer
31. De Sica, Vittorio - Director and actor.
32. DeVito, Danny - Actor, director, and producer
33. Di Caprio, Leonardo - Actor
34. DiMaggio, Joe - Baseball player.
35. Dio, Ronnie James - Musician
36. Faggin, Federico - Physicist, inventor of the microprocessor.
37. Fermi, Enrico - Italian physicist, pioneer in nuclear fission.
38. Galilei, Galileo - Born in Pisa in 15 February 1564.
39. Garibaldi, Giuseppe - Military and political leader.
40. Giannini, Amadeo Peter - Founder of Bank of America
41. Hogan, Hulk - Professional Wrestler and Actor
42. Jacuzzi family - Inventors, hot tubs.
43. Leno, Jay - Comedian
44. Leno, Jay - Comedian.
45. Lohan, Lindsay - Model, Actress, Singer.
46. Loren, Sophia - Actress.
47. Madonna - Singer, composer, actress, author.
48. Mancini, Henry - Composer and arranger
49. Marciano, Rocky - Boxer
50. Marconi, Marchese Guglielmo - Engineer, inventor of radio
51. Martin, Dean - Singer and actor.
52. Mastroianni, Marcello - Actor
53. Minnelli, Liza - Actress and singer.
54. Pacino, Al - Actor, director.
55. Pasolini, Pier Paolo - Director
56. Pavarotti, Luciano - Tenor
57. Pesci, Joe - Actor, comedian and musician.
58. Polo, Marco - Famous explorer. Born in Venice, Italy.
59. Ramazzotti, Eros - Singer, songwriter
60. Russo, Rene - Actress, Model.
61. Scorsese, Martin - Director, writer and producer.
62. Shields, Brooke - Actress
63. Sinatra, Frank - Singer and actor.
64. Springsteen, Bruce - Musician.
65. Stallone, Sylvester - Actor, director, producer and screenwriter.
66. Stefani, Gwen - Singer and actress.
67. Tomei, Marisa - Actress.
68. Travolta, John - Actor, dancer, and singer.
69. Tyler, Steven - Musician.
70. Valentino, Rodolfo - Actor
71. Verrazano, Giovanni da (or Verrazzano) - Italian navigator and explorer.
72. Vespucci, Amerigo - The explorer after whom the Americas are named.
73. Volta, Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio - Electricity Pioneer.
74. Zamboni, Frank - Inventor of the Zamboni machine (ice rinks).