Carmine Coppola Carmine Coppola Carmine Valentino Coppola (June 11, 1910 – April 26, 1991) was an American composer, flautist, editor, musical director, and songwriter who contributed original music to "The Godfather", "The Godfather Part II", "Apocalypse Now", "The Outsiders", and "The Godfather Part III", all directed by his son Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola was born in New York City, the son of Marie (née Zasa) and Agostino Coppola. His brother is opera conductor and composer Anton Coppola. He was the father of August Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola, and Talia Shire, and grandfather of Nicolas Cage, Sofia Coppola, Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and
Francis Ford Coppola Lucas, who became his lifelong friend as well as production assistant in his next film "The Rain People" in 1969. It was written, directed and initially produced by Coppola himself, though as the movie advanced, he exceeded his budget and the studio had to underwrite the remainder of the movie. The film won the Golden Shell at the 1969 San Sebastian Film Festival. In 1969, Coppola took it upon himself to subvert the studio system which he felt had stifled his visions, intending to produce mainstream pictures to finance off-beat projects and give first-time directors their chance to direct. He