Johnston McCulley

Born in Ottawa, Illinois, on February 2, 1883, Johnston McCulley became an American writer and screenwriter whose career stretched across magazines, novels, film, and television. He is most closely associated with Zorro, the masked hero he introduced in the 1919 serial The Curse of Capistrano.

McCulley was remarkably productive, publishing hundreds of stories and around fifty novels, often in the fast-moving world of pulp fiction. Alongside Zorro, he created and wrote about a range of adventure and mystery characters, building a reputation for brisk plots, danger, disguise, and dramatic reversals.

He died in Los Angeles on November 23, 1958, but his most famous creation has endured for generations. The continuing life of Zorro in books, film, television, and popular culture is a sign of how strongly McCulley’s storytelling connected with readers.