Guide Note: Francis Ford Coppola is the Academy Award-winning director of the Godfather trilogy of films and Apocalypse Now. His most recent film is 2007's Youth Without Youth.

Fast Facts:

1. Born April 7, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan
2. Won the Oscar for Best Screenplay for Patton in 1971
3. Owns literary publishing and production company American Zeotrope
4. Suffered from polio as a child
5. Met Jim Morrison while studying at UCLA

Education and Beginnings

Coppola graduated with an MFA in Directing from UCLA's Film School. His first job in filmmaking was writing scripts and assisting B-movie legend Roger Corman, for whom he directed the low-budget horror film Dementia 13 as well as a few so-called "nudie" features.

The 1970s

Coppola first gained genuine notereity after winning the Oscar for Best Screenplay for Patton, in which George C. Scott memorably played the legendary general. He followed this up with his adaptation of Mario Puzo's bestselling Mafia novel The Godfather and the Gene Hackman paranoia thriller The Conversation, along with writing a script adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel The Great Gatsby for director Jack Clayton and producing the George Lucas-directed nostalgia comedy American Graffiti. Other classic films directed by Coppola during this prolific decade include The Godfather Part II (the only sequel to ever win an Oscar for Best Picture) and the Vietnam War allegory Apocalypse Now.

Producer and Businessman

Coppola continued to direct films in the '80s, '90s and '00s, including Peggy Sue Got Married, One From the Heart and Bram Stoker's Dracula, but supplemented this career by entering numerous other fields. Through the company Francis Ford Coppola Presents, he owns several wineries, restaurants and resorts in California's Napa Valley, along with a line of pasta sauces. His production company, American Zoetrope, continues to make films from other directors, including the Jeepers Creepers series of horror films, Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow and Lost in Translation and The Virgin Suicides from Coppola's daughter, Sofia.

Family Connections

Many of Coppola's other relatives also work in the entertainment industry. His sister, Talia Shire, in addition to appearing in the Godfather films, was Adrian in the Rocky movies. Film stars Nicolas Cage and Jason Schwartzman are both his nephews. Son Roman is also a film director, having made the feature CQ and numerous music videos.