George Lucas

Childhood Of Celebrities : George Lucas

George Walton Lucas Jr. was born in Modesto, California, on May 14, 1944, the only son among George and Dorothy Lucas’s four children. His father sold office supplies and equipment and owned a walnut farm. Lucas was not a good student; he enjoyed racing cars and owned a souped-up, high-powered Fiat (a brand of Italian automobile) in high school. Shortly before graduating he was involved in a serious car accident, nearly dying from his injuries. After recovering from a three-month hospital stay, Lucas decided that he wanted to go to art school. His parents refused to pay for it, so he instead enrolled at Modesto Junior College to study social sciences.

Lucas became interested in photography and film and began making films with a small camera. While photographing a car race he met Haskell Wexler (1922–), a famous cinematographer (motion picture cameraman), who helped him get into the University of Southern California (USC) film school. Lucas produced eight student films, including THX-1138: 4EB (1965), in which he explored his vision of the future. After graduating Lucas worked as a cameraman (he filmed part of the famous 1968 Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California, in which a man was stabbed to death) and as an editor for films produced by the United States Information Agency. While at this job he met Marcia Griffin, a film editor. They married in 1969 and adopted a child in 1981. The couple divorced in 1984, and Lucas later adopted two children on his own.

In 1969 Lucas won a scholarship from Warner Brothers Studios, which allowed him on the set to watch the filming of Finian’s Rainbow, which was being directed by Francis Ford Coppola (1939–). Lucas and Coppola became friends, and Lucas helped edit the film. Lucas also worked on Coppola’s next film, The Rain People. Through Coppola’s newly created film studio and production company, American Zoetrope, Lucas made his first feature, THX—1138, based on the short film he made as a student.

In 1973 Lucas experienced his first real film success with American Graffiti, which focused on one summer night in 1962, following teenage boys and their cars. Lucas co-wrote the script and directed it, with Coppola serving as a co-producer. American Graffiti was filmed in less than a month for a little over $750,000. Although Universal, the studio that had paid for the production, did not believe American Graffiti would make a profit, by several months after its release it had become the surprise hit of the year. It was one of the most profitable films of the 1970s and was nominated (put forward for consideration) for five Academy Awards.

Credit : www.notablebiographies.com

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