George Walton Lucas, Jr. was raised on a walnut ranch in Modesto,
California. His father was a stationery store owner and he had three
siblings. During his late teen years, he went to Thomas Downey High School and
was very much interested in drag racing. He planned to become a
professional racecar driver. However, a terrible car accident just
after his high school graduation ended that dream permanently. The
accident changed his views on life.
He decided to attend Modesto Junior
College before enrolling in the University of Southern California film
school. As a film student, he made several short films including
THX 1138:4EB: Electronic Labyrinth (1967) which won first prize at the
1967-68 National Student Film Festival. In 1967, he was awarded a
scholarship by Warner Brothers to observe the making of
Der goldene Regenbogen (1968) which
was being directed by
Francis Ford Coppola. Lucas and
Coppola became good friends and formed American Zoetrope in 1969. The
company's first project was Lucas' full-length version of
THX 1138 (1971). In 1971, Coppola went
into production for
Der Pate (1972), and Lucas
formed his own company, Lucasfilm Ltd.
In 1973, he wrote and directed
the semiautobiographical
American Graffiti (1973) which
won the Golden Globe and garnered five Academy Award nominations. This
gave him the clout he needed for his next daring venture. From 1973 to
1974, he began writing the screenplay which became
Star Wars: Episode IV - Eine neue Hoffnung (1977). He was inspired to
make this movie from Flash Gordon and the Planet of the Apes films. In
1975, he established ILM. (Industrial Light & Magic) to produce the
visual effects needed for the movie. Another company called Sprocket
Systems was established to edit and mix Star Wars and later becomes
known as Skywalker Sound. His movie was turned down by several studios
until 20th Century Fox gave him a chance. Lucas agreed to forego his
directing salary in exchange for 40% of the film's box-office take and
all merchandising rights. The movie went on to break all box office
records and earned seven Academy Awards. It redefined the term
"blockbuster" and the rest is history.
Lucas made the other Star Wars
films and along with Steven Spielberg
created the Indiana Jones series which made box office records of their
own. From 1980 to 1985, Lucas was busy with the construction of
Skywalker Ranch, built to accommodate the creative, technical, and
administrative needs of Lucasfilm. Lucas also revolutionized movie
theaters with the THX system which was created to maintain the
highest quality standards in motion picture viewing.
He went on to produce
several more movies that have introduced major innovations in
filmmaking technology. He is chairman of the board of the George Lucas
Educational Foundation. In 1992, George Lucas was honored with the
Irving G. Thalberg Award by the Board of Governors of the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his lifetime achievement.
He reentered the directing chair with the production of the highly-anticipated Star Wars prequel trilogy beginning with Star Wars: Episode I - Die dunkle Bedrohung (1999) . The films have been polarizing for fans and critics alike, but were commercially successful and have become a part of culture. The animated spin-off series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) was supervised by Lucas. He sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, making co-chair Kathleen Kennedy president. He has attended the premieres of new Star Wars films and been generally supportive of them.
