LOS ANGELES — Eleanor Coppola, who documented the making of some of her husband iconic films, including the infamously tortured production of “Apocalypse Now,” and who raised a family of filmmakers, has died. She was 87.
Their first-born, Gian-Carlo, quickly became a regular presence in his father’s films, as did their subsequent children, Roman and Sofia . After acting in their father’s films and growing up on sets, all would go into the movies. 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.
“I was just trying to keep myself occupied with something to do because we were out there for so long,” Eleanor told CNN in 1991. “They wanted five minutes for a TV promotional or something and I thought sooner of later I could get five minutes of film and then it went on to 15 minutes.” “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,” wrote Eleanor. “I wonder if I have the guts to get it the way I want it with him in it.”