LEBLANC, MAURICE

born Dec. 11, 1864, Rouen, France died Nov. 6, 1941, Paris in full Maurice-marie-mile Leblanc French author and journalist, known as the creator of Arsne Lupin, French gentleman-thief turned detective, who is featured in more than 60 of Leblanc's crime novels and short stories. Leblanc abandoned his law studies to become a pulp crime writer. Commissioned in 1905 to write a crime story for the French periodical Je sais tout, he created L'Arrestation d'Arsne Lupin (The Arrest of Arsne Lupin) and achieved immediate and long-lasting popular success. His first collection of short stories appeared in 1907. Leblanc used as a recurrent element the suspicion that Lupin may not have reformed completely. Many of LeBlanc's stories were adapted into successful films in the 1930s; in some, Lupin was portrayed by John Barrymore. LeBlanc was awarded the French Legion of Honour.