Eleanor Coppola, who documented the making of some of her husband Francis Ford Coppola’s most famous films, including the notoriously violent production of “Apocalypse Now,” and who raised a family of filmmakers, has died. She was 87 years old.

Coppola died Friday at home in Rutherford, California, his family announced in a statement. No cause of death was given.

Eleanor, who grew up in Orange County, California, met Francis when he worked as an assistant art director on his directorial debut, the 1963 horror film “Dementia 13,” produced by Roger Corman. (He studied design at UCLA.) Within months of dating, Eleanor became pregnant and the couple married in February 1963 in Las Vegas.

His first born, Gian-Carlo, quickly became a regular presence in his father’s films, as did his later children Roman (born 1965) and Sofia (born 1971). After working in his father’s films and growing up on the sets, everyone went into films.

Eleanor told The Associated Press in 2017, “I don’t know what the family has given except that I hope they have set an example of a family that encourages each other in their creative process to do whatever they want.” Even so.” That everyone chose to follow in the family business. We weren’t asking them or expecting them, but they did. At one point, Sophia said, ‘The nut doesn’t fall far from the tree’.

Gian-Carlo, who had appeared in the background of many of his father’s films and had begun doing second-unit photography, died in 1986 at the age of 22 in a boating accident. He died aboard a boat piloted by Griffin O’Neill, son of Ryan O’Neill, who was found guilty of negligence.

FILE: Eleanor Coppola has died at the age of 87. ROME – OCTOBER 20: Roman Coppola, Eleanor Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola and Sofia Coppola attend the premiere of ‘Youth Without Youth’ during Day 3 of the 2nd Rome Film Festival on October 20. 2007 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretin/Getty Images) | Photo credit: Pascal Le Segretin

Roman directed several of his own films and regularly worked with Wes Anderson. He is president of his father’s San Francisco-based film company, American Zoetrope.

Sofia became one of the most celebrated filmmakers of her generation as the writer and director of films including “Lost in Translation” and the 2023 release “Priscilla.” Sofia dedicated the film to her mother.

In joining the family business, the Coppola children were not only following in their father’s footsteps, but their mother’s as well. Beginning with 1979’s “Apocalypse Now,” Eleanor often documented the behind-the-scenes life of Francis’ films. “Apocalypse Now” was shot in the Philippines for 238 days. A storm destroyed the seats. Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack. One member of the construction crew was killed.

Eleanor documented much of the chaos in what would become one of the most famous films about filmmaking, 1991’s “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse.”

“I was just trying to keep myself busy because we were out there,” Eleanor told CNN in 1991. “They wanted five minutes for a TV promotional or something and I thought I’d get five minutes soon. Minutes of film and then it went to 15 minutes.

This undated portrait released by the Coppola family shows Eleanor “Ellie” Jessie Coppola. Coppola, who documented the making of some of her husband Francis Ford Coppola’s most famous films, including the notoriously violent production of “Apocalypse Now,” and raised a family of filmmakers, has died. She was 87 years old. Photo credit: Chad Keig

“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 of footage. “So, it was a surprise and a life-changing experience for both of us.”

Eleanor also published “Notes: On the Making of ‘Apocalypse Now'” in 1979. While the film focused on the film’s set turmoil, the book charts some of Eleanor’s inner turmoil, including the challenges of a larger-than-life marriage. statistics. She wrote of being “a woman isolated from my friends, my affairs and my projects” during her year in Manila. She also opens up about Francis’ extramarital affairs.

“There’s a part of me that’s waiting for Frances to leave me or die, so I can have my life the way I want,” Eleanor wrote. “I wonder if I have the courage to have it the way I want it with him.”

They stayed together for the rest of their lives, though. And Eleanor continued to find creative outlets for herself. She documented several of her husband’s films as well as Roman’s “CQ” and Sofia’s “Marie Antoinette”. He wrote a memoir in 2008, “Notes on a Life.”

In 2016, at the age of 80, Eleanor made her feature debut with “Paris Can Wait,” a romantic comedy starring Diane Lane. He followed it up in 2020 with “Love Is Love Is Love”. Eleanor initially only started writing the screenplay for “Paris Can Wait”.

“One morning at the breakfast table my husband said, ‘Well you should direct.’ I was completely shocked,” Eleanor told the AP. But I said ‘Well, I’ve never written a script before and I’ve never directed, why not?’ I was saying ‘why not’ to everything.

Eleanor’s death comes just as Francis is preparing a long-planned, self-financed epic, “Metropolis,” which is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival next month.

She is survived by her husband; his son Roman and his wife, Jeanne, their children, Pascal, Marcello and Alessandro; his daughter Sofia and her husband, Thomas, their children Romi and Cosima; his granddaughter Gia and her husband, Honor, and their child Beaumont; and by his brother William Neal and his wife Lisa.

Eleanor recently completed her third memoir, the family said. In the manuscript he wrote:

“I appreciate how my unpredictable life has pulled and pulled me in so many unusual ways and taken me in so many directions beyond my wildest imaginations.”