George Lucas.

George Lucas. George Lucas, born in 1944, American motion-picture director and producer, the guiding force behind the Star Wars movie series. These hugely popular science-fiction films brought about a revolution in moviemaking, especially with regard to special effects, an area where Lucas became a leader in the field. Lucas was born in Modesto, California, and educated at Modesto Junior College and the University of Southern California, graduating from the university in 1966. His career began with his prizewinning student film THX-1138 (1965), a science-fiction story that he reworked as his feature-directing debut in 1971. With the backing of American film producer Francis Ford Coppola, Lucas then made American Graffiti (1973), an evocative 1960s nostalgia piece. Lucas's next film, Star Wars (subtitled A New Hope, 1977), revolutionized the commercial film industry. A science-fiction adventure that almost every studio in Hollywood had turned down, the story of freedom fighters Luke Skywalker (played by Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), and Han Solo (Harrison Ford) took popular culture by storm and redefined the nature of the screen spectacle. After Star Wars, Lucas decided to focus on producing films and overseeing Industrial Light & Magic, a company he founded in 1975 to create special audio and visual effects for movies and television. He served as executive producer for the Star Wars sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), as well as for the fantasy Willow (1988) and the popular Indiana Jones movie series directed by Steven Spielberg: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Lucas also created and produced films and series for television, including the series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992-1994). He continued the story of Willow in a fantasy novel Shadow Moon (1995), the first installment of the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy that also included Shadow Dawn (1997) and Shadow Star (1999). In 1996 he formed Lucas Learning Ltd., a multimedia publishing company making educational products. In 1997 Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi were rereleased. The new versions featured new, digitally enhanced special effects and scenes that had proved too difficult to do for the original versions. In 1999 Lucas released The Phantom Menace, the first prequel to the Star Wars movies. This was followed by the second episode, Attack of the Clones (2002), and the third, Revenge of the Sith (2005). The prequels tell the story of Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker's father. Altogether, the Star Wars films have grossed billions of dollars. Lucas said that Revenge of the Sith was his final Star Wars feature film. Numerous books, television series, and other related ventures were planned, however. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.