August Floyd Coppola (February 16, 1934 – October 27, 2009) was an American academic, author, film executive, and advocate for the arts. He was the brother of director

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five ...

and actress

Talia Shire Talia Rose Shire (née Coppola; born April 25, 1946) is an American actress who played roles as Connie Corleone in ''The Godfather'' films and Adrian Balboa in the ''Rocky'' series. For her work in ''The Godfather Part II'' and ''Rocky'', Shire ...

, and the father of actor

Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gui ...

, radio DJ Marc Coppola and director

Christopher Coppola Christopher R. Coppola (born January 25, 1962) is an American film director and producer. Early life Coppola was born in Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as ...

Early life and family

August Coppola was the son of composer and flautist

Carmine Coppola Carmine Valentino Coppola (; June 11, 1910 – April 26, 1991) was an American composer, flautist, pianist, and songwriter who contributed original music to ''The Godfather'', ''The Godfather Part II'', ''Apocalypse Now'', '' The Outsiders'', a ...

(1910–1991) and Italia Pennino Coppola (1912–2004), a lyricist and matriarch of the

Coppola family The Coppola family () is an Italian-American family of filmmakers and performing artists. Family tree Academy Awards The lineal descendants of Carmine Coppola and Italia Pennino have been nominated 2 ...

. His siblings were film director

and actress

; his uncle was composer

Anton Coppola Antonio Francesco Coppola (March 21, 1917 – March 9, 2020) was an American opera conductor and composer. He was the uncle of film director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire, as well as the great-uncle of Nicolas Cage, Christopher ...

Education and work

Coppola received his undergraduate degree at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

and his graduate degree at

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of New ...

, where his thesis ''

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

: The Problem of

In Our Time In Our Time may refer to: * ''In Our Time'' (1944 film), a film starring Ida Lupino and Paul Henreid * ''In Our Time'' (1982 film), a Taiwanese anthology film featuring director Edward Yang; considered the beginning of the "New Taiwan Cinema" * ''In ...

'' was published in 1956. Coppola earned his doctorate at

Occidental College Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is one of the oldes ...

in 1960. He taught

comparative literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

Cal State Long Beach California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

in the 1960s and '70s and served as a trustee of the

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

system before moving to San Francisco in 1984. He then served as

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of Creative Arts at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different ...

. In this role, Coppola earned a reputation of being a champion of the arts on the campus and in the community, and for promoting diversity within the student body of the arts school. Coppola also worked in film, like many other members of his family. He was an executive at his brother's

American Zoetrope American Zoetrope (also known as Omni Zoetrope from 1977 to 1980 and Zoetrope Studios from 1980 until 1990) is a privately run American film production company, centered in San Francisco, California and founded by Francis Ford Coppola and Georg ...

film studio, where he was involved in the revival of

Abel Gance Abel Gance (; born Abel Eugène Alexandre Péréthon; 25 October 188910 November 1981) was a French film director and producer, writer and actor. A pioneer in the theory and practice of montage, he is best known for three major silent films: ''J ...

's 1927 silent film ''Napoléon''. He was the founder and president of the San Francisco Film and Video Arts Commission, and served on the jury of the

36th Berlin International Film Festival The 36th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held 14–25 February 1986. The festival opened with ''Ginger and Fred'' by Federico Fellini, which played out of competition at the festival. The Golden Bear was awarded to West German film ...

in 1986. Also, Coppola served as chairman and CEO of Education First!, an organization seeking Hollywood studio support for educational programs. Coppola also worked as an advocate for art appreciation among the

visually impaired Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as correctable eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment� ...

. He is credited as being the creator of the Tactile Dome, a feature at the San Francisco

Exploratorium The Exploratorium is a museum of science, technology, and arts in San Francisco, California. Characterized as "a mad scientist's penny arcade, a scientific funhouse, and an experimental laboratory all rolled into one", the participatory natu ...

museum. The Dome is a lightless maze that requires visitors to pass through using only their sense of touch. In 1972 Coppola opened the AudioVision Workshop with colleague Gregory Frazier, which employed Frazier's process of

audio recording Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording t ...

descriptions of film and theater action for the benefit of visually impaired audiences. Coppola was the author of the romantic novel ''The Intimacy'' (1978).

Personal life

Coppola married German-American dancer Joy Vogelsang (1935–2021) in 1960; they had three sons:

Marc Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system of ...

Christopher Christopher is the English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or '' Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Christ" or "Anointed", and φέρει� ...

, and Nicolas. Among his nieces and nephews are director

Sofia Coppola Sofia Carmina Coppola (; born May 14, 1971) is an American filmmaker and actress. The youngest child and only daughter of filmmakers Eleanor Coppola, Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola, she made her film debut as an infant in her father's acclaimed ...

and actor

Jason Schwartzman Jason Francesco Schwartzman (born June 26, 1980) is an American actor and musician. Schwartzman made his film debut in Wes Anderson's 1998 film '' Rushmore'', and has gone on to appear in six other Anderson films: '' The Darjeeling Limited'' ( ...

. Coppola and Vogelsang divorced in 1976. He married Marie Thenevin on April 16, 1981. That marriage ended in 1986. His last marriage was to Martine Chevallier, an actress with the

Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state ...

in Paris. Coppola's final home was in Los Angeles, where he died of a heart attack on October 27, 2009, at age 75.

Legacy

The 150-seat August Coppola Theater on the San Francisco State University campus is named in his honor. Francis Ford Coppola dedicated his 1983 film '' Rumble Fish'' to him. Nicolas Cage partially based his idea for the film ''The Sorcerer's Apprentice'' (2010) and his character Balthazar on his father August Coppola. The closing credits read "With Memories of Dr. August Coppola".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coppola, August 1934 births 2009 deaths California State University, Long Beach faculty American male writers American writers of Italian descent People of Campanian descent People of Lucanian descent

August August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named '' Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month i ...