Before Don Vito Corleone appeared on screen with the voice and gestures of Marlon Brando, Mario Puzo was a writer with two respected but poorly selling books, five children, and serious debt. He was born on October 15, 1920, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City, to a family of Italian immigrants from Naples. He died on July 2, 1999, at the age of 78. On his birthday, we recall 10 lesser-known facts about the author of “The Godfather“.
Puzo's story begins long before Corleone.
The writer before world fame
- He served in Germany, but did not participate in combat operations. During World War II, Puzo was in the US Army and was sent to Germany. His poor eyesight prevented him from being involved in combat operations.
- His first novel was not a crime bestseller. “The Dark Arena“, published in 1955, tells the story of a former American soldier and life in post-war Germany. It was well received by critics, but the book did not sell well.
- “The Happy Pilgrim“ is his family book. Puzo worked on the novel for nine years. The story of an Italian immigrant family in New York was inspired by his mother and was later defined by him as more personally important than “The Godfather“.
- His first two novels brought him only about 6,500 dollars. It was the poor financial results that made him look for a more commercial subject.
- Puzo wrote “The Godfather“ for economic reasons. He was 45 years old, had five children and debts of about 20,000 dollars. He received an advance of $5,000 for the manuscript, and the novel was published in 1969 and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for 67 weeks.
How the Corleone World Was Created
- He never knew any mobsters personally. In an interview with NPR, Puzo said: “I've never met a real gangster.“ The author builds the criminal world through research, conversations, and observations of the Italian-American community.
- Don Vito is influenced by the writer's mother. Puzo connects the character's power not only with the mafia, but also with the figure of the family protector. He himself says that in the voice of Don Corleone he heard the voice of his mother.
- Puzo gives new meaning to “godfather“. In his interview with NPR, he explains that he takes the word from the Italian-American family culture, where a close friend of the parents can be called “godfather“. The novel makes it a term permanently associated with the mafia.
- “The Godfather“ is his first screenplay. After winning two “Oscars“ for the scripts of the first two films, Puzo bought a textbook on screenwriting. Its first chapter recommends studying “The Godfather“.
- He insists that Marlon Brando be Don Vito. Puzo sent a letter to the actor before Francis Ford Coppola took over the direction. Coppola later managed to convince “Paramount“ to accept the choice, against which the studio initially opposed.
After the success of the trilogy, Puzo wrote scripts for “Earthquake“, “Superman“, “Superman 2“ and “The Cotton Club“, but continued to define himself primarily as a novelist. He worked on a manual typewriter from 1947, and also created a children's book, and his last novel “Omerta“ was published posthumously in 2000. He said of his most famous book: “I wish, to hell, that I had written it better.“ However, success makes Puzo a name without which the history of American cinema and crime fiction of the 20th century can hardly be told.
Sources: latimes.com, deseret.com, freshairarchive.org