Marcia Lucas, the winner of an "Oscar" for editing the first film in the "Star Wars" series (1977) and the ex-wife of the creator of the series George Lucas, has died at the age of 80, the Associated Press reports, citing her family's lawyer.
Marcia Lucas died of cancer in Rancho Mirage, California, surrounded by loved ones.
She is often called the unsung hero of "Star Wars," the agency notes, and also George Lucas' "secret weapon," Variety reports. In addition to the original film, for which she won an “Oscar“, Lucas also edited “Return of the Jedi“ (1983) and George Lucas's films before “Star Wars“, including “THX 1138““ and “American Graffiti“, for which she was nominated for an “Oscar“.
Marcia Lucas convinced George Lucas to include Obi-Wan Kenobi in the final duel and his role as Luke Skywalker's mentor in the “Star Wars“ storyline. George Lucas himself has previously noted that she worked with a large amount of footage when editing key scenes, including the Rebel attack on the Death Star.
“It was extremely difficult; we had 12,000 meters of dialogue from the pilot episode, everyone saying this and that. And she had to cut everything out and add all the action scenes. No one had ever tried to weave a plot into a fight before, and we were trying to do that,“ he said.
Marcia Lucas was also part of the editing team for Martin Scorsese's 1970s films “Taxi Driver“, “Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore“ and “New York, New York“.
George and Marcia Lucas were married from 1969 to 1983. After their divorce, the editor married Tom Rodriguez, a production manager at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch. The couple divorced in 1993.
Marcia Lucas is survived by two daughters and three grandchildren.