Gian-Carlo Coppola Gian-Carlo Coppola Gian-Carlo Coppola (September 17, 1963 – May 26, 1986) was an American film producer. Coppola was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of set decorator/artist Eleanor Coppola (née Neil) and famed film director Francis Ford Coppola. As the eldest Coppola sibling, he was the older brother to Roman and Sofia. Gian-Carlo was close friends and once a couple with Tracy Reiner, daughter of director Penny Marshall. Gian-Carlo began his professional filmmaking career at the age of 16, working closely with his father. Like his brother and sister, Gian-Carlo—known to his family and friends as Gio—often featured in
Francis Ford Coppola 1960, Coppola enrolled in UCLA Film School for graduate work in film. There he directed a short horror film called "The Two Christophers", inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's "William Wilson", and "Ayamonn the Terrible", a film about a sculptor's nightmares coming to life, before directing the experimental softcore comedy "Tonight for Sure" in 1962. At UCLA, Coppola met Jim Morrison. He later used Morrison's song "The End" in "Apocalypse Now". The company that hired him for "Tonight for Sure" brought him back to re-cut a German film titled "Mit Eva fing die Sünde an" directed by Fritz Umgelter. He added