Mario Puzo Net Worth: How Rich Was “The Godfather” Author?

By Mohit Kamboj On May 2, 2022

Mario Puzo Net Worth: Mario Francis Puzo was an American author, screenwriter, and journalist who lived from October 15, 1920, to July 2, 1999.

He is most known for his crime novels about the Italian-American and Sicilian mafias, including The Godfather (1969), which he later co-adapted into a Francis Ford Coppola film trilogy.

In 1972, he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the first picture, and in 1974, for Part II. Puzo also penned the original screenplays for Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980). In 2001, his final novel, The Family, was published posthumously.

In this article, we’ll find out how Rich Mario Puzo is? What is Mario Puzo’s current relationship status, and how much money does he have?

Mario Puzo’s Career

Mario Puzo enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces as a young man. Because he couldn’t fight because of his bad eyesight, the military assigned him to be a public relations officer. During World War II, he was stationed in Germany for a period of time.

When he returned, he enrolled at City College of New York and graduated with a bachelor’s degree. He’d already begun writing at this point. In 1950, his debut short tale, The Last Christmas, was published in American Vanguard. His debut work, The Dark Arena, was published five years later.

Mario Puzo worked as a writer and editor for publisher Martin Goodman’s Magazine Management Company in the 1950s. Puzo’s writing intrigued writer Bruce Jay Friedman, who gave him a job as an assistant editor for a series of men’s pulp magazines.

Puzo contributed to men’s publications such as True Action, Male, and Swank in the 1960s. Under the pseudonym Mario Cleri, he wrote World War II adventure stories for True Action.

His Best-Seller Novel, The Godfather

In 1969, he published The Godfather, the novel that would become his most famous work. It was a crime book about a Mafia family-centered in New York City. Rumors circulated that the work was based on the author’s personal experiences, which he refuted.

Within two years, ‘The Godfather” became a best-seller, selling over nine million copies. Director Francis Ford Coppola opted to collaborate with Puzo to turn the novel into a film after being impressed by the novel’s popularity.

Mario Puzo and Coppola co-wrote the screenplay for The Godfather (1972). The film was the best earning picture of 1972 and earned Puzo and Coppola an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Following the success of the first episode, Coppola and Puzo joined up again for the second. After the success of the first film, The Godfather Part II was released in 1974 and is considered a classic.

Mario Puzo began writing the screenplay for the disaster film Earthquake in mid-1972, but he never finished it. George Fox took overproduction and the film was released in 1974. In the end, Puzo got a credit.

Mario Puzo’s original script for Superman had a sequel plotline. When it came out in 1978, it was the year’s second-highest earning film.

He wrote the scripts for A Time to Die (1982) and The Cotton Club (1983). (1985). (1984).

The Fourth K by Mario Puzo came out in 1990. It was a story about a fictitious Kennedy family member becoming President in the early 2000s. Despite its commercial failure, Puzo cherished the novel.

His latter works, Omerta and The Family were never published. Several posthumous books appeared in the early 2000s.

Mario Puzo’s Net Worth

Mario is one of the wealthiest novelists in the world, as well as one of the most well-known. Based on our research of Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider, Mario Puzo’s net worth is projected to be above $20 million.

During WWII, he served in the United States Army Air Forces and graduated from City College of New York with a bachelor’s degree. His first short story, The Last Christmas, was self-published in 1950.

Mario Puzo’s Personal Life

Puzo was born in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood to Italian immigrants from Pietradefusi, Province of Avellino, Campania.

Puzo’s father, a New York Central Railroad trackman, was committed to the Pilgrim State Hospital mental asylum for schizophrenia when he was 12 years old, leaving his wife, Maria, to raise their seven children.

During World War II, he served in the US Army Air Forces in Germany and later graduated from City College of New York. Puzo married Erika, a German woman, and they had five children. When Erika’s nurse, Carol Gino, died of breast cancer in 1978 at the age of 58, she became Puzo’s companion.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What Did Mario Puzo Cowrite?

Richard Donner’s Superman and the initial draught for Superman II were also co-written by Puzo.

What was Mario Puzo’s profit on The Godfather?

Puzo sold rights to adaptations of his renowned Godfather work for $50,000 in 1969, which the estate thinks is worth $100 million and has generated over $1 billion in revenue over the years.

Who Was Mario Puzo’s Wife?

Erika Lina Broske