Marcia Lucas, the Oscar-winning film editor behind Star Wars and the ex-wife of director George Lucas, has died. She was 80.
Lucas died on Wednesday in Rancho Mirage, California, from cancer.
“Marcia will be remembered as a brilliant storyteller, a trailblazer for women in film, a loving mother and grandmother, a generous host, and a loyal friend whose humor and sparkle filled every room she entered. Her influence on film is indelible, but those who knew her best will remember the way she made life feel more vivid, more beautiful, more fun, and more full of love,” the family statement said.
A California native, Lucas (née Griffin) got her start in editing via the Motion Picture Editors Guild apprenticeship program, and eventually became the assistant to lauded female film editor Verna Fields (Jaws, Paper Moon). Lucas, who married George in 1969, was an assistant editor on George’s feature directorial debut THX 1138.
With Fields, she edited his next film, American Graffiti, earning her first Oscar nomination for best film editing in 1974. William Reynolds took home the trophy that year for his work on The Sting, but Lucas would go on to earn the Oscar for one of Hollywood’s most beloved films and her husband’s biggest hit: Star Wars. In 1977, alongside editors Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew, she accepted the Academy Award. Lucas went on to edit Return of the Jedi.
The 1977 Hollywood Reporter review of Star Wars made a special mention of the film’s editing, calling it “perfectly paced.” In his biography of the director, Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas, author Dale Pollock wrote that Lucas was her husband’s “secret weapon.”
Outside of her then-husband, Lucas worked with lauded filmmaker Martin Scorsese. She edited Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, and worked on Taxi Driver and New York, New York.
Lucas and George divorced in 1983. She later married and divorced artist Tom Rodrigues.
She is survived by daughters Amanda Lucas and Amy Soper, as well as her grandchildren.
