August Coppola dead at 75

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- August Coppola, a literature professor and the father of Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage, has died of a heart attack, TV's "Extra" reported Thursday. He was 75.

The brother of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola was the dean of Creative Arts at San Francisco State University.

Cage talked with reporters about his dad in New York earlier this year while he was promoting his latest movie, "Knowing."

Asked why his father chose to be a literature professor instead of going into the family business of film making, Cage replied: "Well, my father is the oldest of the three children. Carmine, my grandfather, came to America (from Italy) and it was really because of his skills as a flautist, he was a first chair flautist for Toscanini, that we kind of came out of, I mean, really, almost like a poverty situation.

"So, it was the arts that did that," Cage noted. "My father, who I think was being groomed to be a medical doctor, always had an interest in books. He was just interested in literature and philosophy and that was his calling. That was before Francis decided that he was going to be a filmmaker. So, my father already went on his philosophical and literary path and that was a train that wasn't going to stop, nor did he want it to stop. I'm happy to say that he's quite happy now, continuing to write his books. Then the others in the family have more or less done directing and I hope to see more music soon. I know that my son (Weston) is doing very well in the music industry right now. So, we'll see what happens there."

In addition to his son Nicolas and brother Francis, Coppola is also survived by his sons Christopher and Marc, as well as five grandchildren, "Extra" said.

The Coppola film making dynasty also includes director Sofia Coppola, actress Talia Shire, actor Jason Schwartzman and director Roman Coppola.