Mario Puzo

Mario Gianluigi Puzo  October 15 1920 July 2 1999 was an American author and screenwriter known for his novels about the Mafia including The Godfather 1969 He adapted the novel into a film trilogy with director Francis Ford Coppola for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1972 and 1974 He also cowrote the screenplays for the first two Christopher Reeves Superman films 1978 and 1980