Eleanor Coppola, the longtime wife of Francis Ford Coppola, mother of Sofia and Roman Coppola, and documentary filmmaker who became a key player in the New Hollywood movement, has died at the age of 87. The news was confirmed by the Associated Press, which received a statement from the family. She died Friday April 12 at home in Rutherford, California.

Born in Los Angeles in 1936, Coppola studied design at UCLA and began her career working in the art department on film sets. While serving as assistant art director on “Dementia 13,” she met Francis Ford Coppola, who was making his directorial debut on the independent film. The two were married in 1963, beginning a partnership in life and filmmaking that spanned the next six decades.

An established documentary filmmaker in her own right, Coppola is best known for chronicling the often tumultuous behind-the-scenes drama on film sets. She accompanied her husband to the...