Italia Coppola

Italia Pennino Coppola, mother of filmmaker and winemaker Francis Ford Coppola and a former resident of San Francisco ' s North Beach neighborhood, died Wednesday of natural causes at her home in Los Angeles. She was 91.

Mrs. Coppola, affectionately called " Mammarella " " dear little mama " in Italian by her family and friends, was known for her Italian cooking and for kindling the creative spark in her family.

In addition to Francis, she is also the mother of actress Talia Shire and grandmother of actor Nicolas Cage and director Sofia Coppola.

" In a family of artists, she brought the magic to our family ' s creativity, " Francis Coppola said as he recalled his mother ' s childlike enthusiasm and love of the make-believe.

" She had a young girl ' s style until the end. Even at 91. It was like she never aged beyond an 18-year-old. "

When Francis was 16 and the family lived in Long Island, his mother nurtured his nascent interest in the theater by giving him money for Broadway matinees in Manhattan, he said.

Mrs. Coppola, a homemaker, was also an exceptional cook of Italian food. That legacy has been memorialized in the Francis Coppola Brands line of Mammarella pasta and sauces, whose packaging bears a photo of Mrs. Coppola at age 17. Mrs. Coppola also published a cookbook, " Mama Coppola ' s Pasta Book. "

She made two appearances both nonspeaking roles in two of Francis Coppola ' s films. In the recently re-released " One From the Heart, " she and her husband played a couple in an elevator. In " The Godfather, Part II, " she played a body double in a coffin.

Mrs. Coppola was born into a life of movies and music. She entered the world in 1912 above the family ' s Empire Theater in Brooklyn. Her father, popular Italian composer Francesco Pennino, who immigrated from Naples, Italy, was also an early importer of Italian films.

She married flutist and Academy Award-winning composer Carmine Coppola and had three children: August Floyd Coppola, who lives in Savannah, Ga.; Francis of San Francisco and Napa Valley; and Talia of Los Angeles. Her husband died in 1991.

In addition to her three children, Mrs. Coppola is survived by eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.