Renowned for her behind-the-scenes documentation of her husband Francis Ford Coppola's legendary films, Eleanor Coppola has passed away at the age of 87.
Coppola's family announced her peaceful passing surrounded by loved ones at her home in Rutherford, California. The news was also confirmed by family representatives in an email to CBS News.
Although the cause of her death was not disclosed, Eleanor's legacy as a filmmaker and matriarch lives on.
Originally from Orange County, California, Eleanor crossed paths with Francis while working on his first film, "Dementia 13," in 1963. Their whirlwind romance led to marriage in Las Vegas later that year, and the couple welcomed their first child, Gian-Carlo, soon after.
Gian-Carlo, along with his siblings Roman and Sofia, grew up immersed in the world of cinema, following their parents' footsteps into the industry after appearing in their father's films.
"I don't know what the family has given except I hope they've set an example of a family encouraging each other in their creative process whatever it may be," Eleanor told The Associated Press in 2017. "It happens in our family that everyone chose to sort of follow in the family business. We weren't asking them to or expecting them to, but they did. At one point Sofia said, 'The nut does not fall far from the tree.'
Gian-Carlo, who's seen in the background of many of his father's films and had begun doing second-unit photography, died at the age of 22 in a 1986 boating accident. He was killed while riding in a boat piloted by Griffin O'Neal, son of Ryan O'Neal, who was found guilty of negligence.
Roman directed several movies of his own and regularly collaborates with Wes Anderson. He's president of his father's San Francisco-based film company, American Zoetrope.
Sofia became one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of her generation as the writer-director of films including "Lost in Translation" and the 2023 release "Priscilla." Sofia dedicated that film to her mother.
In joining the family business, the Coppola children weren't just following in their father's footsteps but their mother's, too. Beginning during 1979's "Apocalypse Now," Eleanor frequently documented the behind-the-scenes life of Francis' films. The Philippines-set shoot of "Apocalypse Now" lasted 238 days. A typhoon destroyed sets. Martin Sheen had a heart attack. A member of the construction crew died.
Eleanor documented much of the chaos in what would become one of the most famous making-of films about moviemaking, 1991's "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse."
"I was just trying to keep myself occupied with something to do because we were out there for so long," Eleanor shared in 1991. "They wanted five minutes for a TV promotional or something and I thought, sooner or later, I could get five minutes of film, and then it went on to 15 minutes."
"I just kept shooting but I had no idea...the evolution of myself that I saw with my camera," continued Eleanor, who ended up shooting 60 hours' worth of footage. "So, it was a surprise for both of us and a life-changing experience."
Eleanor also released "Notes: On the Making of 'Apocalypse Now'" in 1979. While the movie delved into the film set chaos, the book delved into some of Eleanor's internal struggles, including the difficulties of being married to a larger-than-life personality. She wrote about feeling like a "woman isolated from my friends, my affairs and my projects" during their time in Manilla. She also candidly addressed Francis's extramarital relationship.
"There is part of me that has been waiting for Francis to leave me, or die, so that I can get my life the way I want it," Eleanor penned. "I wonder if I have the guts to get it the way I want it with him in it."
They remained together, though, throughout her life. And Eleanor continued to seek out creative outlets for herself. She documented several more of her husband's films, as well as Roman's "CQ" and Sofia's "Marie Antoinette." She wrote a memoir in 2008, "Notes on a Life."
In 2016, at the age of 80, Eleanor made her narrative debut in "Paris Can Wait," a romantic comedy starring Diane Lane. She followed that up with "Love Is Love Is Love" in 2020. Eleanor had initially set out only to write the screenplay to "Paris Can Wait."
"One morning at the breakfast table my husband said, 'Well you should direct it.' I was totally startled," Eleanor told The AP. "But I said 'Well, I never wrote a script before and I've never directed, why not?' I was kind of saying 'why not' to everything."
Eleanor died just as Francis is preparing a long-planned, self-financed epic, "Metropolis," which is to premiere next month at the Cannes Film Festival.
She is survived by her husband; her son Roman and his wife, Jen, their children, Pascale, Marcello and Alessandro; her daughter Sofia and her husband, Thomas, their children Romy and Cosima; her granddaughter Gia and her husband, Honor, and their child Beaumont; and by her brother William Neil and his wife, Lisa.
Eleanor recently completed her third memoir, the family said. In the manuscript, she wrote:
"The unexpected twists and turns of life have pushed me in ways I never could have imagined, leading me down paths I never thought possible."
