Fred Roos dead at 89: Oscar-winning producer of The Godfather Part II, has passed away

Oscar-winning Hollywood producer Fred Roos has died at the age of 89, only four days before his 90th birthday. Fred Roos won an Oscar for “The Godfather Part II“ and was a longtime executive producer for Francis Ford Coppola and Sofia Coppola.

Fred Roos was also nominated for an Oscar for Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. Francis Ford Coppola has been at the Cannes Film Festival for Megalopolis which had its world premiere last week, Fred Roos was a producer on it. 

Francis Ford Coppola’s wife Eleanor passed away in April 2024 and Fred Roos was an executive producer on her documentary Hearts of Darkness, which was about the making of Apocalypse Now. The movie Apocalypse Now won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival back in 1979.

Over the years Fred Roos and Francis Ford Coppola co-produced movies such as “The Godfather Part II”, “The Conversation” and “Apocalypse Now” together. Fred Roos was also a producer on movies such as The Outsiders and Rumble Fish.

According to Deadline, “In 1974, he and Francis Coppola held the rare distinction of earning two Oscar nominations for Best Picture in the same year, for The Conversation and The Godfather Part II. Both were nominated again in 1980 for Apocalypse Now.”

It wasn’t only Francis Ford Coppola Fred Roose collaborated with but also worked with Sofia Coppola and produced her movies such as Lost in Translation, The Virgin Suicides and Priscilla starring Austin Butler. Before becoming part of the movie industry, Fred Roos worked in the mailroom at MCA Inc, which is now Universal Pictures and reportedly drove Marilyn Monroe.

Fred Roos then became an assistant to a top agent and then went on to become a casting director before moving into movie casting. When they were looking for actors for the 1973 movie American Graffiti, after seeing between 100 t0 150 actors, they came across a certain Harrison Ford. 

Deadline reported that “Roos knew Ford from his time as a carpenter at Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios. After “American Graffiti,” Roose convinced Coppola to give Ford cameos in “The Conversation” and “Apocalypse Now.” However, in between those two, there came another feature for Ford, when Roos championed the actor for Lucas’ Star Wars.”

Fred Roos was born Frederick Ried Roops and joined the US. Army after graduating from high school. He earned himself a bachelor’s degree from UCLA. Fred Roos survivors include his wife Nancy Drew and son Alexander ‘Sandy’ Roos.