George Walton Lucas Jr., professionally known as George Lucas is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and entrepreneur. He is well recognized for creating the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, and Industrial Light & Magic. He first received acclaim for his 1973 coming-of-age film “American Graffiti” whereas he previously attempted to join the U.S. Air Force after graduation but they wouldn’t accept him because of a number of speeding tickets on his record, so instead he re-enrolled at USC as a graduate student in film production. Lucas made his first TV show appearance in the documentary series, “Bitte umblattern” in 1978 and made his formal theatrical film debut in the action comedy film, “Beverly Hills Cop III”, as the Disappointed Man.
George Lucas Famous For
- He is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and entrepreneur.
- He created the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” franchises.
Where was George Lucas born?
George Lucas opened his eyes for the very first time on 14th May 1944 in Modesto, California, U.S. His real name is George Walton Lucas Jr. and his nationality is American. He came from a mixed ethnic background as he has English, Scottish, Dutch, French, and Swiss-German roots on his father’s side and is of German and Swiss-German descent on his mother’s side. Talking about his religion, he was raised in a Methodist family. George’s present age is 78 which he celebrated recently in 2022 and as per his birthdate, his zodiac sign is Taurus. Thus, his race is white. He is the son of his mother, Dorothy Ellinore Lucas, and his father, George Walton Lucas Sr. He also had three siblings named Wendy Lucas, Ann Lucas, and Kathleen Lucas.
Moving to Lucas’s education, he studied at Thomas Downey High School and passed out from Modesto’s Roosevelt Junior High School in 1958. Later, he attended the University of Southern California (USC) School of Cinematic Arts, graduating in 1962.
George Lucas Career
- George Lucas kicks off his career working under Verna Fields for the United States Information Agency where he worked as a teaching instructor for a class of U.S. Navy students who were being taught documentary cinematography.
- He then directed the short film “Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB”, which won first prize at the 1967-1968 National Student film festival.
- His professional film career started when he co-founded the studio American Zoetrope with Coppola in 1969 after which he created his own company, Lucasfilm, Ltd., and directed the successful “American Graffiti” (1973).
- He wrote the film “Star Wars” which quickly became the highest-grossing film of all time as well as his next film “American Graffiti” also got success.
- He also acted as executive producer for the next two “Star Wars” films and acted as story writer and executive producer on all four of the “Indiana Jones” films.
- Similarly, he has been credited as executive producer and sometimes story writer in this period including “Kurosawa’s Kagemusha” (1980), “Twice Upon A Time” (1983), “Ewoks: Caravan of Courage” (1984), “Ewoks: Battle for Endor” (1985), “Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters” (1985) and many others.
- George and Tomlinson Holman founded the audio company THX Ltd in 1983 and were reluctant to return to “Star Wars” which also became popular once again.
- Later he started work on the screenplay of the first prequel, tentatively titled “Episode I: The Beginning” in 1994, and released a “Director’s Cut of THX 1138” in 2004.
- The first “Star Wars” prequel was finished and released in 1999 as “Episode I – The Phantom Menace”, which would be the first film George had directed in over two decades.
- As well, he collaborated with Jeff Nathanson as a writer of the 2008 film “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” as well as he served as the creator and executive producer for a second “Star Wars” animated series on Cartoon Network, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” from 2008 to 2014.
- He also served as executive producer for Red Tails” in 2012 however, he announced his retirement from producing large blockbuster films and instead re-focusing his career on smaller ones in January 2012.
- He later worked as a creative consultant on the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy’s first film, “The Force Awakens”.
- He wrote the CGI film “Strange Magic” in 2015 which was his first musical and in 2016, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” which was the first film of a “Star Wars” anthology series was released. He also has had cursory involvement with “Solo: A Star Wars Story” (2018).
- Apart from his film career, he is also the founder of The George Lucas Educational Foundation which is a nonprofit operating foundation to celebrate and encourage innovation in schools 1991.
- Also, he was considering establishing a museum by June 2013, the Lucas Cultural Arts Museum, to be built on Crissy Field near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, which would display his collection of illustrations and pop art, with an estimated value of more than $1 billion. The museum project was renamed the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.
- He later announced that the museum will be constructed in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, California on 17th January 2017.
Awards and Achievements
- Irving G. Thalberg Award
- BAFTA Awards
- Daytime Emmy Awards for his work in “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”
- Producers Guild of America Awards
- Empire Awards for his work in “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith”
- Evening Standard Film Awards for his work in “Star Wars”
- Hugo Awards for his work in “Empire Strikes Back”
- Saturn Awards for his work in “Star Wars”
- Golden Raspberry Award for his work in “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones”
Who is George Lucas’s Wife?
George Lucas is a married man as he tied a knot with his beautiful wife Mellody Hobson on 22nd June 2013 at Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, California. Mellody is the president of Ariel Investments and chair of DreamWorks Animation, in 2006. The couple has one daughter together, born via gestational carrier in August 2013. Lucas was previously married to his ex-wife Marcia Lou Griffin in 1969. Marcia is a film editor who went on to win an Academy Award for her editing work on the original “Star Wars” film. The pair adopted a daughter, Amanda Lucas, in 1981, and got divorced in 1983. Later Lucas adopted two more children as a single parent: daughter Katie Lucas, born in 1988, and son Jett Lucas, born in 1993. Following his divorce, George was also in a relationship with singer Linda Ronstadt in the 1980s. Concerning his sexual orientation, he is straight.
George Lucas’s Net Worth 2022
George Lucas has been in the film industry for quite a long time. He has a net worth of $5.4 billion as of 2022 whereas he has also a handsome amount of salary which is around $500 million per year. Lucas has earned a huge amount of money from his profession as his major source of income is his film director, producer, screenwriter, and entrepreneur career. He sold Lucasfilm to The Walt Disney Company for a reported sum of $4.05 billion in 2012. He also gave US$1 million to help build the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in 2005. It was reported on 15th April 2016 that Lucas had donated between $501,000 and $1 million through the Lucas Family Foundation to the Obama Foundation.
How tall is George Lucas?
George Lucas stands at an ideal height of 5 ft 7 in or 170 cm with a balanced body weight of 77 kg or 169.5 lbs. He has gray hair and dark brown eyes color. Moreover, his body build type is average. Lucas has kept his body fit although he has reached his old age which is so awesome.