Mario Gianluigi Puzo (October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999) was an Italian American author known for his novels about the Mafia, especially The Godfather (1969).
Easton Press Mario Puzo books
Three volume set including titles:
The Godfather
The Last Don
Omerta
Franklin Library Mario Puzo books
The Last Don - signed first edition - 1996
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Author Mario Puzo
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. The book was later developed into a trilogy of films (The Godfather, The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III) directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
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."
Influences
Puzo's favorite writer was Fyodor Dostoyevsky. He was deeply influenced by his books, particularly The Brothers Karamazov which Puzo quoted in his books, The Dark Arena, Fools Die, The Fourth K, and The Family. The character Stefano Andolini, in The Sicilian, was derived from Dostoyevsky's major character Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovensky in The Possessed. Luca Brasi, in The Godfather, came from Raskolnikov. Puzo referred to Dostoyevsky as his "personal favourite" to the editor Jonathan Karp.
Death
Puzo died of heart failure on July 2, 1999 at his home in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York.
Mario Puzo books in order
Novels
The Fortunate Pilgrim (1965)
The Runaway Summer of Davie Shaw (1966)
Six Graves to Munich (1967), as Mario Cleri
The Godfather (1969)
Fools Die (1978)
The Fourth K (1990)
The Last Don (1996)
Omertà (2000)
The Family (2001) (completed by Puzo's longtime girlfriend Carol Gino)
Non-fiction
Test Yourself: Are You Heading for a Nervous Breakdown? as Mario Cleri (1965)
The Six Million Killer Sharks That Terrorize Our Shores as Mario Cleri (1966)
Choosing a Dream: Italians in Hell's Kitchen (1971)
The Godfather Papers and Other Confessions (1972)
Inside Las Vegas (1977)
Short stories
(All written under the pseudonym Mario Cleri except "The Last Christmas" and "First Sundays")
The Last Christmas (1950)
John 'Red' Marston's Island of Delight (1964)
Big Mike's Wild Young Sister-in-law (1964)
Six Graves to Munich (1965)
Saigon Nymph Who Led the Green Berets to the Cong's Terror Headquarters (1966)
Trapped Girls in the Riviera's Flesh Casino (1967)
The Unkillable Six (1967)
First Sundays (1968)
Girls of Pleasure Penthouse (1968)
Order Lucy For Tonight (1968)
12 Barracks of Wild Blondes (1968)
Charlie Reese's Amazing Escape from a Russian Death Camp (1969)
Screenplays
The Godfather (1972)
Earthquake (1974 – August 1972 script draft only)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
Superman (1978)
Superman II (1980)
The Cotton Club (1984 – story only)
The Godfather Part III (1990)
Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992)
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006)
The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone (2020)
Source and additional information: Mario Puzo