George Lucas

American filmmaker

• Born: May 14, 1944
• Place of Birth: Modesto, California

With the release of the first Star Wars film in 1977, Lucas made his mark as an innovator who began to influence both the public’s expectations of films and filmmakers’ perceptions of what makes a successful film. Lucas’s work significantly affected the technology of filmmaking, especially special effects, and the Star Wars franchise remains the standard by which other films in the genre, and other genres, are measured. In addition to Star Wars, Lucas's work on the Indiana Jones franchise as well as the companies he founded, including Industrial Light and Magic and Skywalker Sound, made him one of the most successful filmmakers in history by nearly any measure. He invested some of the earnings from his many blockbuster films into philanthropic efforts benefiting education and future filmmaking.

Early Life

George Walton Lucas, Jr., was born in Modesto, California, to George Walton Lucas, Sr., and Dorothy Lucas. His parents owned a stationery store and raised their son and three daughters at their walnut ranch. Lucas, initially more interested in cars and racing than in writing, directing, and producing films, was seriously injured in a car wreck just before he graduated from high school. The severity of his injuries, and a long hospital stay, led him to reevaluate his life goals. As a student at Modesto Junior College, Lucas became interested in filmmaking and began making amateur short films. He then transferred to the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles and majored in film studies.

Lucas excelled as a film student, honing his skills by producing several short works during his years at USC. One of these works, the science-fiction short film Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, won first prize at the National Student Film Festival for the 1967–1968 academic year. Lucas also was awarded a scholarship by Warner Bros. in 1967, a scholarship that allowed him to observe the filming of Francis Ford Coppola’s Finian’s Rainbow (1968). The two eventually became friends, and Lucas worked as Coppola’s assistant during the filming of The Rain People (1969).

Life’s Work

With the help of his mentor, Coppola, Lucas turned his award-winning short Electronic Labyrinth into a full-length feature film starring Robert Duvall. The film, retitled THX 1138, was produced by Coppola’s new production company, American Zoetrope. Despite some difficulties in releasing the film, THX 1138 was first shown in theaters in 1971, and it eventually became a cult classic.

The success of THX 1138 earned Lucas a chance to work with Universal Studios. In 1973, Universal okayed the production of his film American Graffiti (1973), a nostalgic look at teenage life in the early 1960s. Lucas was the film’s writer and director, and Coppola served as a producer. Lucas’s wife, Marcia Lucas, edited the film. With a relatively small budget, Lucas and Coppola produced one of the most financially and critically successful films of the 1970s. The film earned five Academy Award nominations, won a Golden Globe Award, and won several other awards for screenwriting.

The unexpected success of American Graffiti opened even more doors for Lucas. He would go on to produce one of the most influential films of the 1970s, Star Wars (1977), which he wrote and directed. This film, later called Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope , was the first episode of a planned series of trilogies. It was an immediate success, and influenced not only the film-going public’s expectations of films but also filmmakers’ perceptions of what makes a successful film. It won many awards, including six Oscars in 1978; Marcia Lucas, Paul Hirsch, and Richard Chew won the Oscar for best editing for their work on the film. Lucas soon produced and released the film’s sequels, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi (1983). In these three films, Lucas’s emphasis on storytelling was joined by state-of-the-art technology, namely groundbreaking special effects, to produce one of the most successful trilogies in film history.

In 1981, Lucas further solidified his position as a producer of blockbuster films when he joined forces with his friend Steven Spielberg in the production and release of Raiders of the Lost Ark , the first in another successful series of films. For this film and for its sequels Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Lucas served as executive producer and cowriter. The films, which starred Harrison Ford—who also starred in American Graffiti and the first three Star Wars films—were financial successes and were acclaimed by both filmgoers and critics. The success of the Indiana Jones films opened the way for Lucas to produce the award-winning television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992–96), which focused on Indiana Jones’s early years. Though it was short-lived, the series won ten Emmy Awards.

In addition to his skills in filmmaking, Lucas also proved to be a good businessman. The profits from his early films allowed him to start his own production company, Lucasfilm Ltd., in 1971, and he first bought land in 1978 for what would become Skywalker Ranch, which houses the various enterprises related to his filmmaking. At Skywalker Ranch, Lucas built facilities for film production, music recording, research and development, and offices. Lucasfilm also expanded in the decades following its establishment. It included such companies as Lucas Digital Ltd., Industrial Light & Magic, and Skywalker Sound, among others.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Lucas released a number of other films, but with mixed results. Several films, such as Howard the Duck (1986) and The Radioland Murders (1994), failed to achieve the popular and critical success of his earlier efforts. Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) and Willow (1988) were more successful, though they never reached the level of popularity of Star Wars and the Indiana Jones films.

In the early 1990s, Lucas began preparations for the Star Wars prequels. He issued special, enhanced editions of the original Star Wars films. The first of these editions was released in 1997, with the second and third installments following close behind. In 1999, the first film of the new trilogy, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, was released and drew record crowds. Lucas served as writer, director, and executive producer for all three prequels, which included Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). All three films broke records for ticket sales during their first week in release.

In 2008, Lucas created Star Wars: Clone Wars, an animated television series that aired on Cartoon Network until 2013. Critics praised the series, which won two Emmy Awards in 2013. In 2012 Lucas announced his semiretirement, stepping away from the day-to-day business of his company. That year Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney, a sale that included rights to the Star Wars franchise. Disney released a new Star Wars film, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, in December 2015. The film, directed and produced by J. J. Abrams, is set some thirty years after Return of the Jedi and features several characters from previous Star Wars films who are played by the original actors, including Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Carrie Fisher as Leia, and Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca. The same year, Lucas wrote the CGI musical film Strange Magic.

Disney released two more Star Wars films to make what became known as the Star Wars sequel trilogy: Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017) and Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019). Lucas became involved with several other films set in the Star Wars universe, including Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), as well as with the Disney+ original series The Mandalorian, which began in 2019. However, for the most part he remained in the background in semi-retirement.

Significance

Lucas’s influence on the filmmaking industry and on popular culture continued into the early twenty-first century. His legacy as an innovative writer, director, and producer is clear given the enduring popularity of his Star Wars films, which have seen two generations of fans. Indiana Jones returned in 2008 with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Lucas later served as an executive producer for the series' fifth installment, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the title of which was announced in 2022.

Lucas’s influence has not gone unnoticed. He has won many awards, including those from his peers. In 1992, he received the Irving G. Thalberg Award from the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He has also won several other commendations, including Golden Globe awards, recognition from the New York Film Critics and National Society of Film Critics, and a number of Academy Awards. Lucasfilm and associated companies have also been recognized with awards for achievements in technology and filmmaking. Other awards include the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Visual Effects Society.

With the proceeds from his successful career in film Lucas has served as a benefactor to a number of charitable causes. These include donations to help build the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, a substantial donation to the film school at his alma mater, University of Southern California, funding for former President Barrack Obama's presidential library, and funds to establish the George Lucas Educational Foundation to encourage innovation in K-12 schools. He and his wife also donated the start-up funds for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles with an opening date in 2025.

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