Interviewee: Francis Ford Coppola
Interviewer: Tavis Smiley
Date: June 18, 2009

Francis Ford Coppola is a critically-acclaimed film director, producer and screenwriter. His film masterpieces include the three-part onscreen adaptation of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Apocalypse Now.

A son of film musician and composer Carmine Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola was born April 7, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan. Growing up, he was stricken with polio that left him bedridden for a substantial part of his childhood. He would cope with his disability by directing homemade puppet theater productions that allowed him to play with his imagination. He then began to make movies at the age of 10.

Francis Ford Coppola earned a degree in theatre arts from the Hofstra University. While in college, he was bestowed with three D. H. Lawrence Awards and a Beckerman citation for his contributions to the development of the university’s theatre arts.

He enrolled for a graduate degree in film at the UCLA and became involved with the release of low-budget films and subsequently, a sci-fi picture called Battle Beyond the Sun. After working as associate on several films, Francis Ford Coppola directed his first feature movie titled Dementia 13 and earned a following among the horror flick audience. His adeptness as a writer was recognized when he won the Samuel Goldwyn Award as a graduate student in UCLA. Francis Ford Coppola’s second film You’re a Big Boy Now earned him rave reviews along with a Master of Fine Arts degree.

The 1971 film The Godfather would be the highlight of his career. The film’s first installment received a nomination for Best Director and won for Best Picture. He also won an Oscar for writing the screenplay with Mario Puzo. The second installment, The Godfather Part II, bagged six Oscars including Best Producer, Best Director, and Writer for Coppola.

Apart from his famed career as film director, Francis Ford Coppola is also a magazine publisher, and owner of a winery and a hotel in southern Italy.