Lee Falk

Lee Falk was an American writer, playwright, and theater director born in St. Louis, Missouri. After graduating from the University of Illinois, he worked as a copywriter at a St. Louis advertising agency, where he met artist Phil Davis.

In 1934 Falk and Davis sold Mandrake the Magician to King Features Syndicate, making it one of the earliest adventure comic strips. Two years later Falk created The Phantom, which debuted on February 17, 1936. The Phantom's skin-tight costume, inspired by depictions of Robin Hood, predated and influenced the superhero costume conventions that followed. At their peak, the two strips attracted over 100 million daily readers.

Falk wrote both strips continuously from their inception until the final days of his life. Outside of comics, he ran five theaters over the course of his career, produced roughly 300 plays, and directed about 100 of them.