Mario Puzo Biography and latest books by Mario Puzo

Mario Puzo was born on 15 October, 1920. He was an American writer and a screenwriter, famously known for his work in The Godfather and other novels based upon the Mafias. His book The Godfather Saga was adapted into a movie by him and Francis Ford Coppola. The movie earned him the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in the year 1972 and 1974. The movie actually made a huge impact on the American society.

Born to an immigrant family in Manhattan, New York, Mario Gianluigi Puzo lived with his family in a place famously known as ‘Hell’s Kitchen’. His passion for writing began when he discovered the public library and the literature world. Puzo served in the United States Air Force during the Second World War after graduating from City College of New York. He was stationed in East Asia and Germany during his time in the U.S Air Force. After the war he went back to the United States and studied in New School for Social Research, New York, and Columbia University. It was during this time that he took up classes in creative writing and literature. He married Erika Rhodes in the year 1946 with whom he had five children. In the year 1950, his first short story The Last Christmas was published in American Vonguard. Then in the year 1955, his first book The Dark Arena was published.

Mario Puzo worked as a free lance journalist and a writer from 1963. Mario Puzo’s most famous work, The Godfather was published in the year 1969. He actually started working on this novel after hearing anecdotes on Mafia while he was working as a pulp journalist. He began to collect materials from Cosa Nostra which was on the East Coast branch. In this book, his idea of family bondage, crime and love was put forward. The plot of the novel dealt about the mafia world, honour, corruption and violence. The main protagonist of the novel, Don Corleone was portrayed as a ruthless guy who was a narcissist but at the same time a very sentimental mafia. His values were anti-social. The novel also portrayed Don Corleone’s struggle to keep the family as one and his struggles to keep the family business legitimate underneath the tightly structured crime syndicate. The thirst for power among the underworld bosses was also very clearly portrayed. When this novel was published it became such a huge success that Puzo didn’t have to worry about his family’s financial security. In one way his wish of financial stability was fulfilled because he did admit once when he came to Larry King Live show that he had written the novel purely for the money that was involved. The book became such a huge success that it was made into a movie by him and Francis Ford Coppola. The movie received a whooping total of 11 Academy Award nominations out of which they won 3. With the success of this movie they made a sequel to this movie which was The Godfather II and The Godfather III.

Mario Puzo was also the co-writer of the movies, Superman: The Movie, and Superman II. From the 1990s his work includes The Fourth K, which was published in 1991, and In The Last Don, which was published in 1996. His last crime book was named Omerta and it was released after his death in the year 2000.

On July 22, 1999, Mario Puzo died of heart failure at his home in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York. During Puzo’s last days he spent his time writing and collecting materials for The Family. However he could not complete the book so his long time companion Carol Gino completed it for him.

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