Lee Falk was born on April 28, 1911 in St.Louis, Missouri, USA and died on March 13, 1999 in New York, NY, USA. The year of his birth was something which Lee consistently preferred to keep to himself. Many different birthyears have been reported in various books and magazine articles; anywhere from 1905 to 1917. It was not until he was laid to rest at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home in New York City on March 18, 1999, that the facts were set straight — Lee Falk was born on April 28, 1911.

While at high school in St.Louis, Falk edited the school’s paper. After graduation, he attended the University of Illinois, where he majored in literature and continued his interest in writing by contributing stories, articles and poems for the college newspaper. As a 19 year old sophomore (2nd year), Falk developed his first ideas for a comic strip centred around a stage magician. Considering it more a less a prank, he drew up the first two weeks of what was eventually to become Mandrake the Magician. He had always sketched and drawn a bit, had even taken art classes with an interested in comics, but thought of himself primarily as a writer. Lee did not think much of his first efforts at comic strip creation, but was advised to stick with it by fellow St.Louis resident named Harry Tuthill, who was the creator of The Bungle Family, a very popular comic strip at the time. Tuthill encouraged his young friend to try to find a buyer for his strip.