Oscar-winning editor of original Star Wars films Marcia Lucas dies aged 80
The ex-wife of George Lucas has been remembered as a major creative force behind the Star Wars films
Marcia Lucas, the Oscar-winning editor of the original Star Wars films, has died aged 80.
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Lucas was married to director George Lucas between 1969 and 1983. She died on Wednesday from metastatic cancer in Rancho Mirage, California, a lawyer for her family said.
She edited the original 1977 Star Wars film, Return of the Jedi, in 1983, and George Lucas's earlier films THX 1138 and American Graffiti.
Lucas has since been recognised as the main creative force behind the development of the first Star Wars film, now known by its subtitle 'A New Hope'.
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She convinced her then-husband that Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Alec Guinness, should have a battle with Darth Vader using lightsabers and become a spirit guide to Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker.
Lucas has also been acknowledged for being able to organise the raw footage, including the famous rebel attack on the Death Star.
"It was extremely complex, and we had 40,000 feet of dialogue footage of pilots saying this and that. And she had to cull through all that, and put in all the fighting as well," George Lucas told Rolling Stone a few months after the film was released.
"Nobody really has ever tried to interweave an actual plot story into a dogfight, and we were trying to do that".
Lucas was also an editor on Martin Scorsese's 1970s films Taxi Driver, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and New York, New York.
Born Marcia Griffin in Modesto, California just after the end of World War II, she moved to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents divorced as a small child.
She began working as a film librarian and moved into working as an editor.
She met George Lucas, who was then a film student, when she was an assistant editor on the documentary Journey to the Pacific. They got engaged soon after.
After they divorced, she married Tom Rodrigues, a production manager at the Skywalker Ranch production centre, from 1983 to 1993.
"Her influence on film is indelible, but those who knew her best will remember the way she made life feel more vivid, more beautiful, more fun, and more full of love," her family said in a statement.
"Her work was known for its emotional intelligence, rhythm, and humanity - a rare ability to find the truth of a scene and bring heart, momentum, and clarity to the screen."