Marcia Lucas, Oscar-winning film editor of 'Star Wars,' dies at 80

Marcia Lucas, the Oscar-winning movie exertion of “Star Wars,” died Wednesday successful Rancho Mirage aft a conflict with cancer. She was 80.

“Marcia volition beryllium remembered arsenic a superb storyteller, a trailblazer for women successful film, a loving parent and grandmother, a generous host, and a loyal person whose wit and sparkle filled each country she entered. Her power connected movie is indelible, but those who knew her champion volition retrieve the mode she made beingness consciousness much vivid, much beautiful, much fun, and much afloat of love,” a household connection said. “Her enactment was known for its affectional intelligence, rhythm, and humanity — a uncommon quality to find the information of a country and bring heart, momentum, and clarity to the screen.”

Marcia, who was joined to George Lucas for much than a decade, was wide regarded arsenic instrumental successful making the “Star Wars” trilogy the juggernaut it became. But she garnered municipality fable presumption for making the telephone to termination disconnected 1 large and beloved character.

“If determination was thing that was melodramatic oregon emotional, George gave it to Marcia and George ever said: support 1 idiosyncratic whose sentiment you spot to the precise end, and that was Marcia,” said exertion and manager Duwayne Dunham.

She besides co-edited “American Graffiti,” which nabbed her an Oscar nomination, Martin Scorsese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” “Taxi Driver,” “New York, New York,” and past successful 1978, she won an Oscar for “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope,” alongside co-editors Richard Chew and Paul Hirsch.

Mark Hamill, who starred arsenic Luke Skywalker successful the “Star Wars” franchise, posted a tribute to Lucas connected societal media, penning that helium and his wife, Marilou York, are profoundly saddened by the nonaccomplishment of their “lifelong friend, Marcia.”

“Not conscionable a gifted, innovative artist, she besides happened to beryllium a genuinely bully person,” helium continued. “Smart, funny, & conscionable plain amusive to beryllium around. Thankfully, her representation lives connected and we volition ne'er halt missing her.”

Lucas was calved Marcia Lou Griffin connected Oct. 4, 1945, successful Modesto but was raised successful North Hollywood. She told True West Film Center that she was a “real rags to riches story” and was raised by a azygous mother. “We lived manus to mouth, paycheck to paycheck,” she said. “I ne'er knew anybody successful the movie business, the euphony business, the vigor business. ... I didn’t spell to schoolhouse with radical who were kids that were associated with the industry. But erstwhile I utilized to spell location aft school, I would beryllium and ticker aged movies. It was similar I was getting an acquisition successful movies.”

When she was 18, she landed a occupation arsenic an apprentice movie librarian astatine the Sandler Film Library successful Hollywood. When the room was slow, the adjunct exertion taught Marcia astir post-production and TV commercials. When helium left, she took over.

By the mid-1960s, Marcia was acceptable to determination connected from the Sandler but was told editors “didn’t privation women successful the cutting room,” truthful she disquieted her ambition to marque it large successful the tract was astatine a dormant end. “But past I had a person who had a person who knew a pistillate successful Van Nuys — Verna Fields — who liked to prosecute women.”

Marcia was hired.

It was portion she was moving for Fields arsenic an adjunct that she met George Lucas, past a USC movie pupil whom Fields considered talented. Because Marcia was the astir experienced assistant, Fields asked her to assistance the young filmmaker.

Marcia described him arsenic “very intense” successful the cutting room. “We worked together, and past aft the movie was done, we started dating,” Marcia told True West Film Center. “I utilized to say, ‘I don’t recognize wherefore you’re specified a acold fish,’ and George would say, ‘I whitethorn beryllium a acold fish, but you’re afloat of beans’ — and that was our chemistry. That chemistry worked for america for galore years.”

The mates joined successful 1969 and divorced successful 1983, but during their clip unneurotic they made the archetypal “Star Wars” trilogy. The mates divided earlier “Return of the Jedi” was released but waited to publically denote their divorcement until soon aft the movie deed theaters.

“I’m benignant of known successful Star Wars,” Marcia told True West Film Center. “I killed Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

According to Marcia, George was convinced he’d beryllium laughed retired of Hollywood due to the fact that successful the archetypal publication characters were moving astir and shooting astatine 1 different and cipher was getting hurt. “I said, ‘What if Obi-Wan Kenobi fto Darth Vader onslaught him down?’ and George said, ‘I benignant of similar that.’”

Marcia suggested that Obi-Wan Kenobi could past beryllium a ghostly presence. She said that the alteration to the publication added a spiritual strangeness to the movie and gave the 2nd enactment a existent climax, due to the fact that nary 1 expected to suffer the Jedi master.

“Anyway,” she said. “I killed him.”

Marcia is survived by daughters Amanda Lucas and Amy Soper; grandchildren Felix Hallikainen, Aeliana Hallikainen, and Knox Soper; and her chosen household Sarah Dyer and Jon Taylor.