Mario Puzo facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mario Puzo
Puzo in 1972
Born	Mario Francis Puzo (1920-10-15)October 15, 1920 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	July 2, 1999(1999-07-02) (aged 78) West Bay Shore, New York, U.S.
Pen name	Mario Cleri
Occupation	Novelist screenwriter journalist
Period	1955–1999
Genre	Crime fiction
Subject	Mafia
Notable works	The Godfather (1969)
Spouse	Erika Puzo ​ ​ (m. 1946; died 1978)​
Partner	Carol Gino
Children	5
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Mario Francis Puzo (October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999) was an American author and screenwriter. He was famous for writing novels about organized crime families, especially The Godfather (1969). Later, he helped turn The Godfather into a very successful movie series with director Francis Ford Coppola.

Puzo won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the first The Godfather film in 1972. He won another Oscar for Part II in 1974. He also wrote the original story for the 1978 Superman movie and its 1980 sequel. His last novel, The Family, was published after he passed away in 2001.

About Mario Puzo's Life

Mario Puzo was born in a part of New York City called Hell's Kitchen. His parents were immigrants from Italy. When Mario was 12, his father became very ill and could no longer work. His mother, Maria, then had to raise their seven children by herself.

Puzo served in the US Army Air Forces in Germany during World War II. After the war, he went to the City College of New York. He married a German woman named Erika, and they had five children. Erika passed away from cancer in 1978. After her death, her nurse, Carol Gino, became Mario Puzo's partner.

Mario Puzo's Writing Career

Mario Puzo's first short story, "The Last Christmas," was published in 1950. His first book, The Dark Arena, came out in 1955.

In 1960, Puzo worked as an assistant editor for adventure magazines for men. He wrote World War II adventure stories for a magazine called True Action under the pen name Mario Cleri.

The Godfather Novel and Films

In 1969, Puzo's most famous book, The Godfather, was published. Puzo said he wrote this story after doing a lot of research about organized crime. He wanted to write something that many people would enjoy. The novel was a huge success. It stayed on The New York Times Best Seller list for 67 weeks. It sold over nine million copies in just two years.

The book was later made into the movie The Godfather (1972), directed by Francis Ford Coppola. A film company called Paramount Pictures learned about Puzo's unfinished story in 1967. They offered him money for the rights to make it into a movie. Puzo needed money urgently, so he accepted the deal. The movie won three Oscars, including one for Puzo for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Coppola and Puzo then worked together on the sequels to the first film: The Godfather Part II (1974) and The Godfather Part III (1990). For the third movie, Coppola and Puzo wanted to call it The Death of Michael Corleone. However, Paramount Pictures did not agree. In 2020, a new version of the third film was released with the title Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. Coppola said this new version was what he and Puzo had originally imagined.

Other Screenplays and Books

In 1972, Puzo wrote the first draft of the script for the 1974 disaster movie Earthquake. He couldn't finish it because he was busy with The Godfather Part II. Even though others finished the script, Puzo still received credit for his work.

Puzo also wrote the original story for Richard Donner's Superman movie. This story also included the plot for Superman II, as they were first planned as one film. He also helped write the stories for the 1982 film A Time to Die and the 1984 film The Cotton Club.

In 1991, Puzo's novel The Fourth K was published. This book is a type of speculative fiction. It is about a made-up member of the famous Kennedy family who becomes President of the United States.

Puzo finished his last two books, Omertà and The Family, before he died. Omertà was published in 2000 and The Family in 2001. Some people wondered if someone else helped finish Omertà.

Mario Puzo's Death

Mario Puzo passed away from heart failure on July 2, 1999. He was 78 years old and died at his home in Bay Shore, New York.

Mario Puzo's Works

Novels

• The Dark Arena (1955)
• 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 Sicilian (1984)
• The Fourth K (1990)
• The Last Don (1996)
• Omertà (2000)
• The Family (2001) (completed by Puzo's longtime girlfriend Carol Gino)

Non-fiction Books

• "Test Yourself: Are You Heading for a Nervous Breakdown?" as Mario Cleri (1965)
• The Godfather Papers and Other Confessions (1972)
• Inside Las Vegas (1977)

Short Stories

All short stories, except "The Last Christmas", were written under the name Mario Cleri.

• "The Last Christmas" (1950)
• "John 'Red' Marston's Island of Delight" (1964)
• "Big Mike's Wild Young Sister-in-law" (1964)
• "The Six Million Killer Sharks That Terrorize Our Shores" (1966)
• "Trapped Girls in the Riviera's Flesh Casino" (1967)
• "The Unkillable Six" (1967)
• "Order Lucy For Tonight" (1968)
• "12 Barracks of Wild Blondes" (1968)
• "Charlie Reese's Amazing Escape from a Russian Death Camp" (1969)

Screenplays and Film Adaptations

• The Godfather (1972)
• Earthquake (1974 - August, 1972 script draft only)
• The Godfather Part II (1974)
• Superman (1978)
• Superman II (1980)
• A Time to Die (1982)
• The Cotton Club (1984)
• The Sicilian (1987)
• The Fortunate Pilgrim (1988)
• The Godfather Part III (1990)
• Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992)
• The Last Don (1997)
• Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006)
• The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone (2020)

Video Game Adaptations

• The Godfather (1991)
• The Godfather (2006)
• The Godfather II (2009)

See also

In Spanish: Mario Puzo para niños

• The Godfather (book series)