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George Walton Lucas, Jr. was born in Modesto, California. His father, George Walton Lucas, Sr., ran a stationery store and owned a small walnut orchard and was mainly of British and Swiss heritage. His mother, Dorothy Ellinore Bomberger Lucas, was a member of a prominent Modesto family (one of her cousins is the mother of former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman) and was mainly of German and Scots-Irish heritage. Lucas attended Thomas Downey High School, where he was an indifferent student at best and dreamed of becoming a professional race car driver. That early dream ended June 12, 1962, when he crashed his Fiat Bianchina. The car was clipped from behind while he tried to make a left turn into his driveway. *** *** The car rolled; the racing harness that he had installed snapped, and he was thrown from the car. Had the harness not snapped—and Lucas has said it shouldn't have—he would most likely have been crushed to death by the steering column when the car smashed into a walnut tree. (The force of the impact uprooted the tree). During his recovery, Lucas reevaluated his life and decided to go to college. He enrolled at Modesto Junior College, where he earned an AA degree, then transferred to the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television. USC was one of the earliest universities to have a school devoted to film studies. There he made a number of short films, including an early version of THX 1138 (the complete title was "Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB"), which later became his first full-length feature film. After graduating with a bachelor of fine arts in film in 1966, he drifted a little, trying to figure out what to do next. He tried joining the Air Force as an officer, but was turned down because of his numerous speeding tickets. He was later drafted by the Army, but tests showed he had diabetes, which killed his paternal grandfather. Lucas was prescribed medication for the disease and does not seem to have required insulin. In 1967, Lucas re-enrolled as a USC graduate student in film production. Eventually he co-founded the studio American Zoetrope with Francis Ford Coppola, hoping to create a liberating environment for filmmakers to direct outside the perceived oppressive control of the Hollywood studio system. From the financial success of his films American Graffiti (1973) and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977), Lucas was able to set up his own studio, Lucasfilm, in Marin County in his native northern California. Skywalker Sound and Industrial Light and Magic, the sound and visual effects subdivisions of Lucasfilm, respectively, have become among the most respected firms in their fields. Lucasfilm Games, later renamed to LucasArts, is highly regarded in the gaming industry. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is considered by some to be the first "high concept" film, although others feel the first was Steven Spielberg's Jaws, released two years prior. Lucas and Spielberg had been acquaintances for some time and eventually worked together on several films, notably the first Indiana Jones vehicle, Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981. On a return on investment basis, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope proved to be one of the most successful films of all time. During the filming of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Lucas waived his up front fee as director and negotiated to own the licensing rights—rights which the studio thought were nearly worthless. This decision earned him hundreds of millions of dollars as he was able to directly profit from all the licensed games, toys and collectibles created for the franchise. In 2004 Forbes Magazine estimated Lucas' personal wealth at $3 billion. In 2005 Forbes.com estimated the lifetime revenue generated by the Star Wars franchise at nearly $20 billion. Lucas was fined by the Directors Guild of America for refusing to have a standard title sequence in his Star Wars films. After paying the fine, he quit the guild. This made it hard for him to find a director for some of his later projects. According to some, he wanted his friend Spielberg to direct some of the later Star Wars movies, but as a member of the guild Spielberg may have been unable to do so. Spielberg has repeatedly stated that Lucas consciously did not let him direct any Star Wars films, despite the fact that Spielberg wanted to. Other directors Lucas pursued to aid him were David Lynch and David Cronenberg, both of whom declined. On October 3, 1994, Lucas started to write the three Star Wars prequels, and on November 1 that year, he left the day-to-day operations of his filmmaking business and started a sabbatical to finish the prequels. The American Film Institute awarded Lucas its Lifetime Achievement Award for 2005. He received the award on June 9, 2005. [1] On June 5, 2005, Lucas was named 100th "Greatest American" by the Discovery Channel. Lucas married film editor Marcia Lou Griffin, who won an Oscar for her work on the original (fourth) Star Wars film, in 1969; they adopted a daughter, Amanda, in 1981, and divorced in 1983. Lucas has since adopted two more children: Katie, born in 1988, and Jett, born in 1993. All three of his children have appeared in the prequels. In 2005, Lucas gave $1 million to help build the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C. to commemorate American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.. Besides his directorial and production work on movies, Lucas is the most significant contemporary contributor to modern movie technology. In 1975 Lucas established Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) in Van Nuys, CA, which was responsible for the invention of the special computer assisted camera crane "Dykstraflex" (named after special effects innovator, John Dykstra) that was used for most of the space fight sequences used in the Star Wars movies (technology which was later adopted by most other visual effects production units, such as those responsible for Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek: The Next Generation). Through ILM, Lucas spurred the further development of computer graphics, film laser scanners and the earliest use of 3D computer character animation in a film, Young Sherlock Holmes. Lucas sold his early computer development unit to Steve Jobs in 1986, which was renamed Pixar. Lucas is also responsible for the modern sound systems found in many movie theaters. Though Lucas didn't invent THX, he is responsible for its development. The acronym ostensibly stands for "Tomlinson Holman eXperiment" after its chief engineer, however, it is obviously a reference to Lucas' first film. Now Lucas is spearheading digital photography for movies. Though personal digital photography is now mainstream, most movie studios still use traditional cameras and film for movie production. Lucas departed from this model by filming Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones almost completely digitally. He showed the result to a select audience of the Hollywood elite, before the movie's general release. For the presentation, Lucas used a special digital projection system. The attendees said the movie had the clearest and sharpest presentation they had ever seen. Despite the successful demonstration of the technology, movie studios are slow to move to this new model, in part because of the high price of the digital equipment. Being the creator of an extremely popular work (Star Wars), Lucas has undergone severe criticism from Star Wars fans when he has gone back and altered Star Wars. This first occured with the Star Wars 1997 special editions, which primarily consisted of cosmetic changes, but had some controversial elements such as the anti-hero Han Solo shooting in self defense instead of in aggression. It occured again with the 2004 DVD release of the original trilogy. In addition, the mixed reviews and an increased level of vocalized disappointment relating to the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy films have greatly stoked the debate concerning Lucas' treatment of certain characters and concepts in comparison to the 1977-1983 Star Wars films. Changes Lucas personally made to THX 1138 for its 2004 DVD release further re-enforced criticism from fans who felt that he was spoiling the integrity of his original films. Lucas is also viewed by some to be anti-union. He dropped his membership in the directors guild when they fined him $250,000 for the fact that Star Wars had no opening credits. He subsequently filmed the remaining Star Wars films primarily outside of the United States, and primarily with non-union crew. This has caused some problems; Lucas' first choice to direct Return of the Jedi was Steven Spielberg, but had to hire someone else because Spielberg belonged to the director's guild.

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