About
Mario Puzo was born in New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood to Italian immigrant parents. After serving in World War II, he studied at the New School for Social Research and Columbia University. He worked as a civil servant and wrote pulp stories for men's magazines before publishing his first novels, The Dark Arena (1955) and The Fortunate Pilgrim (1964), which were critically praised but commercially unsuccessful. His third novel, The Godfather (1969), became a worldwide bestseller and was adapted into a film by Francis Ford Coppola, with whom Puzo co-wrote the screenplays for the trilogy. He won two Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay.
* 1920-10-15 — † 1999-07-02
Major works
- The Dark Arena (1955)novel
- The Fortunate Pilgrim (1964)novel
- The Godfather (1969)novel
- Fools Die (1978)novel
- The Last Don (1996)novel
Key milestones
- 1969Publication of The Godfather, which sold approximately 21 million copies worldwide.
- 1972Won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Godfather.
- 1974Won a second Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Godfather Part II.
Themes
organized crimefamilypowerItalian immigrationloyalty and betrayal
Sources: id.loc.gov · britannica.com
