Marcia Lucas, the film editor who won an Academy Award for her work on Star Wars, died on May 27 at her home in Rancho Mirage, California. She was 80. Her family’s attorney confirmed that the cause was cancer.
Career
Born Marcia Lou Griffin on October 4, 1945, in Modesto, California, Lucas was raised in North Hollywood. She began her career as a film librarian and later entered the Motion Picture Editors Guild apprenticeship program. She worked as an assistant to film editor Verna Fields, where she met her future husband, George Lucas.
Her feature editing debut was on American Graffiti (1973), directed by George Lucas, for which she received her first Oscar nomination for Best Film Editing in 1974. She shared the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for Star Wars (1977) alongside editors Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew. She later edited Return of the Jedi (1983).
Lucas edited Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) and served as supervising film editor on his films Taxi Driver (1976) and New York, New York (1977).
Earlier in her career, she worked as an assistant editor on The Rain People (1969), Medium Cool (1969), THX 1138 (1971), and The Candidate (1972). Later, she served as executive producer on No Easy Way (1996) and as producer on two short films.
Contributions to Star Wars
During the editing of Star Wars, Lucas assembled the climactic Death Star attack sequence from extensive footage. She also suggested that Darth Vader kill Obi-Wan Kenobi, a change that George Lucas stated heightened the threat of Vader and tied into the dark side of The Force. George Lucas noted in a 1977 Rolling Stone interview that the editing was complex, interweaving plot and dogfight.
Personal Life
Lucas married George Lucas in 1969; they divorced in 1983. She later married artist Tom Rodrigues; that marriage ended in 1993.
Survivors
Lucas is survived by her daughters Amanda Lucas and Amy Soper; grandchildren Felix Hallikainen, Aeliana Hallikainen, and Knox Soper; and chosen family Sarah Dyer and Jon Taylor.