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 Henry Ford, not only because he was born in the Henry Ford Hospital but also because of his musician-father's association with the automobile manufacturer. At the time of Coppola's birth, his father was a flautist as well as arranger and assistant orchestra director for "The Ford Sunday Evening Hour", an hour-long concert music radio series sponsored by the Ford Motor Company. Two years after Coppola's birth, his father was named principal flautist for the NBC Symphony Orchestra, and the family moved to New York, settling in Woodside, Queens, where Coppola spent the remainder of his childhood. Having contracted polio as