Lee Falk, who was born Leon Harrison Gross on April 28, 1911 in St. Louis, Missouri, was a famous American writer and cartoonist, best known as the creator of the popular pulp/comic superheroes the Phantom and Mandrake the Magician.Over the course of his life he also became an accomplished theater director and producer, directing such actors such as Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, and Charlton Heston.