Joseph Campbell

American professor of literature and mythologist — author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces — who created the monomyth (Hero's Journey) framework by synthesizing world mythology — whose work was the intellectual foundation for George Lucas's Star Wars.

Creates the Hero's Journey (monomyth) — Campbell's synthesis (that all world myths share a common structure: hero receives a call, crosses a threshold, faces trials, achieves transformation, and returns with a gift) is the single most influential framework in screenwriting, storytelling, and narrative theory in popular culture.