Who wrote the novel that inspired The Godfather films?

Mario Puzo wrote the novel that inspired The Godfather films.

Puzo’s novel The Godfather was published in 1969, three years before the first film reached cinemas. The book introduced the Corleone family, including Vito, Michael, Sonny, Fredo, and Connie, and provided the central fictional world used by the film series.

Puzo co-wrote the screenplays for all three Godfather films with Francis Ford Coppola. The first film adapted much of the novel, while the sequels expanded the family’s history and future beyond the book’s main narrative.

The novel’s success helped make the film project attractive to Paramount Pictures. Puzo is sometimes remembered only as a novelist, but his screenplay work on The Godfather films also earned major awards, including Academy Awards for adapted screenplay.