Mario Puzo

Mario Francis Puzo (; Italian: [ˈmaːrjo ˈputtso, -ddzo]; October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999) was an American author and screenwriter. He wrote crime novels about the Italian-American Mafia and Sicilian Mafia, most notably The Godfather (1969), which he later co-adapted into a film trilogy directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the first film in 1972 and for its sequel Part II in 1974. Puzo also wrote the original screenplay for Superman (1978) and its 1980 sequel. His final novel, The Family, was released posthumously in 2001.