Carmine Coppola

Carmine Coppola

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Carmine Coppola (June 11, 1910 - April 26, 1991) was an Academy Award- and Golden Globe-winning, as well as BAFTA Award-nominated, American composer, editor, musical director, and songwriter. Coppola was a composer and conductor who contributed to many of the musical scores in The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Godfather Part III, and Apocalypse Now directed by his son Francis Ford Coppola.

Biography

Coppola was born in New York City, the son of Marie (née Zasa) and Augusto Coppola. He was the father of August and Francis Ford Coppola and Talia Shire and grandfather of Nicolas Cage, Sofia Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, and Robert Schwartzman. His wife, Italia Coppola, died in 2004 in Los Angeles. Coppola died in Northridge, California at the age of 80. Upon his death, Coppola's grandson Robert Schwartzman changed his last name to 'Carmine' in his grandfather's honor.

Coppola played the flute. He studied at Juilliard and later at the Manhattan School of Music. During the 1940s, Coppola worked under Arturo Toscanini with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Then in 1951, Coppola left the Orchestra to pursue his dream of composing music. During that time he mostly worked as an orchestra conductor on Broadway and elsewhere, working with his son, legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, on additional music for his Finian's Rainbow. Later, his son called him to provide additional music for The Godfather Part II. Together with Nino Rota, Carmine composed music for The Godfather, and for The Godfather Part II, for which they won Oscars for Best Score. Carmine then scored Francis' Apocalypse Now, for which he won a Golden Globe award for best original score. He also composed three and a half hour score for Francis' 1981 reconstruction of Abel Gance's 1921 epic Napoleon.

The Godfather Part III (1990, Composer (Music Score) / Musical Direction/Supervision)
The Freshman (1990, Songwriter)
New York Stories (Composer (Music Score) / Actor: Street Musician))
Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988, Composer (Music Score) / Songwriter)
Blood Red (1989, Composer (Music Score))
Gardens of Stone (1987, Composer (Music Score))
The Outsiders (1983, Editor/Composer (Music Score))
Apocalypse Now (1979, Composer (Music Score))
The Black Stallion (1979, Composer (Music Score))
The Godfather Part II (1974, Conductor / Composer (Music Score) / Musical
The Godfather Part I (1972, Piano Sequence)