Carl Zuckmayer was born on December 27, 1896 in Nackenheim, Rheinhessen.

After finishing school in Mainz, he enlisted in the Prussian army and served in the Nassau Field Artillery Regiment No. 27 Oranien during the First World War.

After the First World War, he studied law, literary history and sociology in Frankfurt am Main and Heidelberg. He became famous as a writer during the Weimar Republic. After expressing criticism of the National Socialists and having his books banned as early as 1933, he emigrated to Switzerland and finally to the United States following the annexation of Austria in 1938.

After the war, he returned to Europe as a cultural representative on behalf of the American War Department, having meanwhile been granted American citizenship.

In the 1950s, he became increasingly popular as a writer in West Germany and received numerous awards for his works. One of these was the Wine Culture Prize of the City of Wiesbaden, which he was awarded on December 1, 1955.

On this occasion, Zuckmayer also signed the city's Golden Book in the ballroom of the town hall. In 1957, he moved to Saas-Fee in the Swiss canton of Valais and finally became a Swiss citizen in 1966.

Carl Zuckmayer died on January 18, 1977 in Visp, Switzerland.