Lucas, George

(born May 14, 1944, Modesto, Calif., U.S.) Film director and producer. He studied filmmaking at the University of Southern California. His first feature film, THX 1138 (1971), was followed by the surprise success American Graffiti (1973). He wrote and directed the immensely popular science-fiction movie Star Wars (1977), which made innovative use of computerized special effects. He formed the production company Lucasfilms (1978) and its special-effects division Industrial Light and Magic and produced the Star Wars sequels—The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Return of the Jedi (1993)—as well as Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and its sequels. He returned to directing with the first Star Wars prequel, The Phantom Menace (1999), which was followed by the other prequels Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005).

Lucas, George (1945– ) movie director/producer; born in Modesto, Calif. After injuring himself as a high school car racer, he became interested in moviemaking and at the Cinema School of the University of Southern California he made a prize-winning science fiction short, THX-1138 (1965). He became a protégé and assistant of Francis Ford Coppola and was one of the cameramen on the documentary, Gimme Shelter (1970). He turned his student film, THX-1138, into a full-length movie (1971), gained considerable recognition with American Graffiti (1973), and then attained phenomenal success with Star Wars (1977), the first of a series of science fiction films. With virtually unlimited resources as a result of the success of his Star War movies, he became increasingly involved in developing state-of-the-art special effects and in producing the works of other young filmmakers.