Mario Gianluigi Puzo (October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999) was a two time Academy Award-winning Italian American author and screenwriter, known for his novels about the Mafia, especially The Godfather (1969), which he later co-adapted into the legendary film with Francis Ford Coppola.

Life

Puzo was born into a poor family of Neapolitan immigrants living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City. Many of his books draw heavily on this heritage. After graduating from the City College of New York, he joined the United States Army Air Forces in World War II. Due to poor eyesight, the military did not let him undertake combat duties but made him a public relations officer stationed in Germany. After the war, he wrote his first book, The Dark Arena, which was published in 1955.

His most famous work, The Godfather, was first published in 1969 after he had heard anecdotes about Mafia organizations during his time in pulp journalism. He later said in an interview with Larry King that his principle motivation was to make money. He had already, after all, written two books that had received great reviews, yet had not amounted to much. As a government clerk with five kids, he was looking to write something that would appeal to the masses. As a number one bestseller for months on The New York Times Best Seller List, Mario Puzo had found his target audience. The book was later developed into the film The Godfather directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola and Puzo collaborated then to work on sequels to the original film, The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III).

Puzo wrote the first draft of the script for the 1974 disaster film Earthquake, which he was unable to continue working on due to his commitment to The Godfather: Part II. Puzo also co-wrote Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie and the original draft for Superman II.

Puzo never saw the publication of his penultimate book, Omertà, but the manuscript was finished before his death, as was the manuscript for The Family. However, in a review originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle, Jules Siegel, who had worked closely with Puzo at Magazine Management Company, doubted that Puzo had actually finished Omertà and expressed the view that it may have been completed by "some talentless hack.

Puzo died of heart failure on July 2, 1999 at his home in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York. His family now lives in East Islip, New York.

Works

Novels

• The Dark Arena (1955)
• The Fortunate Pilgrim (1965)
• The Runaway Summer of Davie Shaw (1966)
• The Godfather (1969)
• Fools Die (1978)
• The Sicilian (1984) sequel to The Godfather
• The Fourth K (1991)
• The Last Don (1996)
• Omerta (2000)
• The Family (2002)

Nonfiction

• The Godfather Papers and Other Confessions (1972)
• Inside Las Vegas (1977)

References

External links

• FreshAir Interview - Audio interview from Fresh Air. Originally broadcast July 25, 1996
• Mario Puzo at the Internet Movie Database
• Mario Puzo biography
• The Official Mario Puzo Library
• "Saying Goodbye to Mario Puzo", an affectionate recollection of Mario Puzo written by his friend Jules Siegel on being notified of his death.
• Mario Puzo Interview with CNN's Larry King