August Coppola August Coppola August Floyd Coppola (February 16, 1934 – October 27, 2009) was an American academic, author, film executive and advocate for the arts. He was the father of actor Nicolas Cage. August Coppola was the son of composer and flutist Carmine Coppola (1910–1991) and Italia Pennino (1912–2004), a lyricist and matriarch of the Coppola family. His siblings are film director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire; his uncle is composer Anton Coppola. August Coppola married German-American dancer Joy Vogelsang in 1960; they had three sons: Marc, Christopher, and Nicolas. Among his nieces and nephews are director Sofia Coppola
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