13. Francis Ford Coppola
We may not have seen a film directed by Francis Ford Coppola for quite some time, but there’s a very good explanation for this: he’s been in the wine business. The director best known for The Godfather decided to take his talents in a new direction and this business move has been a very smart one at that. He first stepped into the wine industry back in 1972 when he took a fair chunk of the money that he made from the first installment of his epic gangster films so he could buy part-ownership of the Inglenook Winery. He started in the wine biz and began releasing bottles under his own name and things were starting to look up. As his career in Hollywood continued, there were some flops but thanks to the box-office success of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, he was able to purchase the remainder. The Francis Ford Coppola Winery has since took off and has become a huge success. Sure, he may not be able to name the wine after himself anymore, but the new taste of Inglenook is all his own and the brand has undergone a wonderful evolution because of it.
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