Eleanor Coppola, a writer and film director who documented the making of some of her husband Francis Ford Coppola’s most famous films, including the infamous Torture. Apocalypse Now, and who raised a family of filmmakers, has passed away. She was 87 years old.

Coppola died Friday at home in Rutherford, California, his family announced in a statement.

Eleanor, who grew up in Orange County, California, worked with Francis while working as an assistant art director in his directorial debut, a 1963 horror film produced by Roger Corman. Dementia 13. (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 set an example of a family encouraging each other in their creative process no matter what. “

“In our family, everyone chose to follow in the family business. We weren’t asking them to do it or expecting them to do it, but they did.”

A family of filmmakers

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 was killed in a boat driven by Ryan O’Neill’s son, Griffin O’Neill, who was found guilty of negligence.

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 famous filmmakers of her generation as a writer and director of films Lost in Translation, Virgin Suicides, Marie Antoinette And a 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 in 1979 Apocalypse NowEleanor often documented the behind-the-scenes life of Francis’ films.

Shot on set in the Philippines Apocalypse Now It lasted for 238 days. A storm destroyed the seats. Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack. One member of the construction crew was killed.

Eleanor documents much of the chaos that would become one of the most famous films about filmmaking, 1991. 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, ‘Soon, I can. Get five minutes of film and then it’s 15 minutes.’

“I just kept shooting, but I had no idea … the evolution of myself that I saw with my camera.”

He ended up shooting 60 hours of footage. “So, it was a surprise and a life-changing experience for both of us.”

Internal chaos

Also published by Eleanor. Note: On the making of ‘Apocalypse Now’ In 1979 While the documentary focused on the turmoil of the film, the book charts some of Eleanor’s inner turmoil, including the challenges of being married to a larger-than-life figure. 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 is a part of me that is waiting for Frances to leave me or die, so that 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, though, and Eleanor continued to find creative outlets for herself. She documented several of her husband’s films as well as Roman. CQ And Sophia’s Marie Antoinette. He wrote a memoir in 2008, Notes on Life.

In 2016, at the age of 80, Eleanor began her narrative Paris can wait., a romantic comedy starring Diane Lane. He followed her. Love is love. In 2020 Eleanor initially intended to write only the screenplay. Paris can wait..

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