Editing Francis Ford Coppola (section)

==Early life and education==
Francis Ford Coppola was born in [[Detroit]], Michigan, in 1939, to father [[Carmine Coppola]] (1910–1991),<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |work=[[The New York Times]] |title=Carmine Coppola, 80, Conductor And Composer for His Son's Films |first=Wolfgang |last=Saxon |date=April 27, 1991 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/27/obituaries/carmine-coppola-80-conductor-and-composer-for-his-son-s-films.html |access-date=February 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230005701/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/27/obituaries/carmine-coppola-80-conductor-and-composer-for-his-son-s-films.html |archive-date=December 30, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> a [[Flute|flautist]] with the [[Detroit Symphony Orchestra]] and mother [[Italia Coppola]] (née Pennino; 1912–2004), a family of second-generation Italian immigrants. His paternal grandparents came to the United States from [[Bernalda]], [[Basilicata]].<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last=Cowie |first=Peter |title=Coppola: a biography |year=1988 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-306-80598-1 |page=2 |no-pp=true}}</ref> His maternal grandfather, popular Italian composer Francesco Pennino, emigrated from [[Naples]], Italy.<ref>{{cite web |first=Michael |last=Cabanatuan |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Italia-Coppola-mother-of-filmmaker-2807695.php |title=Italia Coppola – mother of filmmaker |publisher=SFGate |date=January 23, 2004 |access-date=May 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325233748/http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Italia-Coppola-mother-of-filmmaker-2807695.php |archive-date=March 25, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> At the time of Coppola's birth, his father was an arranger and assistant orchestra director for ''[[The Ford Sunday Evening Hour]]'', an hour-long concert music radio series sponsored by the [[Ford Motor Company]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1988-08-14/features/8802190745_1_carmine-coppola-preston-tucker-francis-ford-coppola |title=The Dream And Its Men Francis Ford Coppola And George Lucas Immortalize A Legendary Car And Its Inventor on Film |work=Sun Sentinel |date=August 14, 1988 |access-date=May 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616141456/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1988-08-14/features/8802190745_1_carmine-coppola-preston-tucker-francis-ford-coppola |archive-date=June 16, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://partners.nytimes.com/books/first/s/schumacher-coppola.html |title=Francis Ford Coppola |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=May 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601060422/http://partners.nytimes.com/books/first/s/schumacher-coppola.html |archive-date=June 1, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Coppola was born at [[Henry Ford Hospital]], and those two connections to [[Henry Ford]] inspired the Coppolas to choose the middle name "Ford" for their son.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Jenny M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4v8REAAAQBAJ&pg=PT26 |title=The Annotated Godfather (50th Anniversary Edition): The Complete Screenplay, Commentary on Every Scene, Interviews, and Little-Known Facts |date=September 21, 2021 |publisher=Running Press |isbn=978-0-7624-7382-3 |language=en |access-date=June 12, 2022 |archive-date=February 10, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240210103504/https://books.google.com/books?id=4v8REAAAQBAJ&pg=PT26#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Delicato |first=Armando |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d5YD7HqcR0MC&pg=PA76 |title=Italians in Detroit |date=2005 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-0-7385-3985-0 |language=en |access-date=June 12, 2022 |archive-date=February 10, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240210103621/https://books.google.com/books?id=d5YD7HqcR0MC&pg=PA76#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

Francis is the middle of three children: his older brother was [[August Coppola]], and his younger sister is actress [[Talia Shire]].<ref name=":1" />

Two years after Coppola's birth, his father was named principal flutist for the [[NBC Symphony Orchestra]], under the baton of [[Arturo Toscanini]], and the family moved to New York. They settled in [[Woodside, Queens]], where Coppola spent the remainder of his childhood.

Having contracted [[polio]] as a boy, Coppola was bedridden for large periods of his childhood, during which he did homemade puppet theater productions. He developed an interest in theater after reading [[A Streetcar Named Desire (play)|''A Streetcar Named Desire'']] (1947) at age 15.<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola Interview page 1">{{Cite web |url=https://achievement.org/achiever/francis-ford-coppola/ |title=Francis Ford Coppola |website=Academy of Achievement |access-date=March 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323144840/https://www.achievement.org/achiever/francis-ford-coppola/ |archive-date=March 23, 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He created [[8 mm film|8&nbsp;mm]] feature films edited from home movies with titles such as ''The Rich Millionaire'' and ''The Lost Wallet''.<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola">{{cite web |url=http://www.filmbug.com/db/1251 |title=Francis Ford Coppola |access-date=October 18, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100727010642/http://www.filmbug.com/db/1251 |archive-date=July 27, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Although Coppola was a mediocre student, his interest in technology and engineering earned him the childhood nickname "Science".<ref name="The Gods of Filmmaking " /> He trained initially for a career in music and became proficient in the [[tuba]], eventually earning a music scholarship to the [[New York Military Academy]].<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola" /> In all, Coppola attended 23 schools<ref name="bravo">{{cite episode |title=Francis Ford Coppola |episode-link=Inside the Actors Studio |series=Inside the Actors Studio |series-link=Inside the Actors Studio |network=[[Bravo (US TV channel)|Bravo]] |season=7 |number=14 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18pZjqLaMMA |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524202955/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18pZjqLaMMA |archive-date=May 24, 2015}}</ref> before he eventually graduated from [[John L. Miller Great Neck North High School|Great Neck North High School]].<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola (Yahoo!)">{{cite web |url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800017123/bio |title=Francis Ford Coppola biography |publisher=Yahoo! Movies |access-date=October 18, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100823043110/http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800017123/bio |archive-date=August 23, 2010}}</ref>

He entered [[Hofstra University]] in 1955 as a theater arts major. There, he was awarded a scholarship in playwriting. This furthered his interest in directing theater, though his father disapproved and wanted him to study engineering.<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola Interview page 1" /> Coppola was profoundly impressed by [[Sergei Eisenstein]]'s film ''[[October: Ten Days That Shook the World]]'' (1928), especially the quality of its [[Film editing| editing]], and decided to pursue cinema rather than theater.<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola Interview page 1" /> He said he was influenced to become a writer by his brother August.<ref name="bravo" /> Coppola also credits the work of [[Elia Kazan]] for influencing him as a writer and director.<ref name="bravo" /> Coppola's classmates at Hofstra included [[James Caan]], [[Lainie Kazan]] and radio artist [[Joe Frank]].<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola (Yahoo!)" /><ref>{{cite news |first=Kristine |last=McKenna |url=http://www.laweekly.com/2008-09-18/stage/off-the-radio |title=Joe Frank: Off the Radio – Page 1 – Stage – Los Angeles |newspaper=LA Weekly |date=September 17, 2008 |access-date=May 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002132602/http://www.laweekly.com/2008-09-18/stage/off-the-radio/ |archive-date=October 2, 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> He later cast Kazan and Caan in his films.

While pursuing his bachelor's degree, Coppola was elected president of the university's drama group, The Green Wig, and its musical comedy club, the Kaleidoscopians. He merged the two groups into The Spectrum Players, and under his leadership, the group staged a new production each week. Coppola also founded the cinema workshop at Hofstra and contributed prolifically to the campus literary magazine.<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola" /> He won three D. H. Lawrence Awards for theatrical production and direction and received a Beckerman Award for his outstanding contributions to the school's theater arts division.<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola Biography">{{cite web |url=http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/cop0bio-1 |title=Francis Ford Coppola Biography |access-date=October 18, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101213223954/http://achievement.org/autodoc/page/cop0bio-1 |archive-date=December 13, 2010}}</ref> While a graduate student, Coppola studied under professor [[Dorothy Arzner]], whose encouragement was later acknowledged as pivotal to Coppola's career.<ref name="Francis Ford Coppola Interview page 1" />