American director, writer, producer and film genius, known for creating the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts and Industrial Light & Magic. He served as chairman of Lucasfilm before selling it to The Walt Disney Company in 2012.
He is the creator of the epic Star Wars first released in 1977, and its two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back in 1980 and The Return of the Jedi in 1983. The space fantasy had brewed in his mind ever since he first became interested in film and finally reached the screen as a movie phenomenon of unprecedented magnitude. Shot in Tunisia and Death Valley and on 11 sound stages in England, it had a relatively modest budget but some of the most imaginative and complex special effects the screen had ever seen. The response was incredible, to the tune of some $200 million in sales. The first film alone copped 11 Academy Award nominations and seven Oscars in 1977.
The son of an office equipment retailer, Lucas was a racing-car enthusiast as a kid until, at the age of 18, he was involved in a car accident that resulted in broken bones and crushed lungs. He attended Modesto Junior College for two years and then enrolled at the Cinema School of USC where he made several prize-winning films. A scholarship took him to the set of Francis Ford Coppola’s Finian’s Rainbow in 1968. He became a protégé of Coppola and worked on the production of The Rain People the following year. He directed his first film in 1970, the sci-fi THX 1138 released on 11 March 1971, the year in which he incorporated LucasFilm Ltd. His American Graffiti (1973), was nominated for five Oscars and was one of the most profitable films in history, remaining a cult favorite.
Lucas offers few details about his private life. He met Marcia Griffin when he was at USC film school. They married in 1969 and both worked on the first Star Wars film. The film garnered Academy Award nominations for him for Best Directing and Best Writing while Marcia took home the Oscar statuette for Best Editing. Their marriage ended in 1983 when she left him. In the mid-‘80s, the reclusive filmmaker completed the building of his own walled kingdom in Lucas Valley, California, the 3,000 acre Skywalker Ranch. His personal quarters are a short drive from the ranch where as a single dad he raised his three adopted kids. His oldest daughter Amanda, born in 1981, was adopted when George was still married. His daughter Katie was born in 1988 and his son Jett was born in 1993. Several years after his divorce, Lucas dated Linda Ronstadt, but the relationship did not last. Lucas married Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Investments and chair of DreamWorks Animation, on 22 June 2013 at Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch. They have one daughter together, born via gestational carrier in August 2013. Lucas seldom goes to Hollywood parties, does not enjoy the glamour-life and is not a “joiner.” One friend remarked, “George was a nerd before there were nerds.”
He was the executive producer of the Spielberg adventure blockbusters Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), and the two following Indiana Jones sequels in 1984 and 1989. Directing was never his favorite activity and he did not direct a film after making Star Wars in 1977 until its long awaited sequel in 1999. The most incredible special effects, as seen in Terminator 2, Jurassic Park and Twister, came from computer-generated images created by Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic effects firm. The sound environment of film has been dramatically altered by his THX Sound System subsequently used in movie theaters worldwide. Many of the industry’s most popular video games have been created by LucasArts Entertainment, formed in 1982. In 2005 Forbes magazine estimated his net worth to be roughly $3 billion, and he has a long list of honors and awards to his name including the prestigious Irving Thalberg Award in 1992. He serves as Chair for George Lucas Educational Foundation which he established in 1991 to document and share innovative educational practices.
On 19 May 1999, the long awaited Star Wars saga continued with the release of Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. It was the first in a series of “prequels.” Episode II: The Attack of the Clones followed in 2002. On 19 May 2005, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith was released in US theatres. Star Wars: The Clone Wars followed in 2008.
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