Mario Francis Puzo (October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999) was an American author and screenwriter. He is best known for his crime novels about the Italian-American and Sicilian Mafia, most notably The Godfather (1969), which he later co-adapted into a film trilogy directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Puzo received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the first film in 1972 and for Part II in 1974.

Born in a poor family of Neapolitan immigrants in New York's Hell's Kitchen, his upbringing in a challenging economic and social environment shaped his unique world perspective. Many of his books draw heavily on this heritage. After graduating from the City College of New York, Puzo served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. Due to poor eyesight, he was stationed as a public relations officer in Germany.

In 1950, Puzo's first short story, The Last Christmas, was published in American Vanguard. His first book, The Dark Arena, was published in 1955. In the 1950s and early 1960s, he worked as a writer/editor for publisher Martin Goodman's Magazine Management Company. Puzo also wrote the original screenplay for the 1978 Superman film and its 1980 sequel. His final novel, The Family, was released posthumously in 2001.