Mario Puzo

American · b. 1920

Mario Puzo was 45, critically praised, broke, and $20,000 down to bookies when he wrote The Godfather 'to make money' — from research and Italian-Harlem hearsay, never having met a gangster. It became the fastest-selling novel of its decade, real mafiosi adopted its rituals, and his screenplays for the Coppola films won him two Oscars.