New Delhi:Marcia Lucas, an Oscar-winning editor of the iconic 1977 film Star Wars and one of the many women editors who were indispensable to New Hollywood, has died at the age of 80, her family’s lawyer said.
AP reported that family lawyer Deidre Von Rock said in a statement released by AP that Marcia Lucas died of metastatic cancer. She died at her home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., on Wednesday surrounded by loved ones.
The creative force behind Star Wars
Marcia Lucas edited Return of the Jedi (1983) and George Lucas's earlier films THX 1138 and American Graffiti, before Star Wars.
She also appeared in several movies by legendary director Martin Scorsese, such as Taxi Driver, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and New York, New York, in the 1970s.
One of Hollywood’s most influential female editors
One of the few senior creative jobs in Hollywood where women could get a foot in the door was editing. Marcia Lucas was a member of a generation of women editors who helped shape the vision of mostly male filmmakers during the New Hollywood era of the late 1960s to the early 1980s.
Her contemporaries were Dede Allen (Bonnie and Clyde, Dog Day Afternoon), Verna Fields (Paper Moon, Jaws), and Thelma Schoonmaker (who has edited most of Scorsese's films since Raging Bull).
Star Wars’ unsung hero
Marcia Lucas is often thought of as the unsung hero of Star Wars, the film that would later be widely known by its subtitle, A New Hope. She famously convinced her then-husband, George Lucas, that Obi Wan Kenobi, played by Alec Guinness, should die in his battle with Darth Vader and come back as a guiding spirit for Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill.
“It was extremely complicated because we had 40,000 feet of dialogue footage of pilots doing this and that, and she had to go through and cut it all and put in all the battles as well,” George Lucas told Rolling Stone in an interview shortly after the film’s release. "No one's ever really tried to put a real plot line into a dogfight before and that's what we were trying to do.
Early life and career
Marcia Lucas was born Marcia Griffin in Modesto, California, just after the Second World War. Her parents divorced when she was a child and she moved to Los Angeles with her mother.
She started out as a film librarian, before moving on to edit commercials and promotional films. She was assistant editor on Journey to the Pacific, directed by Verna Fields. It was at this time she met George Lucas, then a film student at the University of Southern California. They were engaged before long.
Personal life [ ]
Marcia and George Lucas divorced in 1982. However, they chose not to announce their split until after the release of Return of the Jedi in 1983.
She later married Tom Rodrigues, a production manager at Skywalker Ranch, and they were together from 1983 to 1993.
Marcia Lucas is survived by daughters Amanda Lucas and Amy Soper and three grandchildren, Felix Hallikainen, Aeliana Hallikainen and Knox Soper.
Tributes to the family
“She made an indelible impact on film, but for those of us who loved her most, we will remember how she brought joy, beauty, colour and love into our lives,” the family said in a statement.
Her editorial gifts, the statement went on, were characterized by her emotional intelligence, rhythm and humanity. She had the rare gift of finding the truth in a moment and giving it heart, energy and clarity on screen.
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