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George Lucas
George Walton Lucas Jr.
Born May 14, 1944 -
George Lucas Early life
Lucas was born and raised in Modesto, California, the son of Dorothy Ellinore Lucasand George Walton Lucas Sr., and is of German, Swiss-German, English, Scottish, and distant Dutch and French descent. He was interested in science fiction, including TV shows such as Flash Gordon. -
George Lucas Early life
Long before Lucas began making films, he yearned to be a racecar driver, and he spent most of his high school years racing on the underground circuit at fairgrounds and hanging out at garages. On June 12, 1962, at age eighteen, while driving his souped-up Autobianchi Bianchina, another driver broadsided him, flipping over his car, nearly killing him, causing him to lose interest in racing as a career. Lucas's father owned a stationery store and wanted George to work for him when he turned 18 -
George Lucas Early life
In 1967, Lucas re-enrolled as a USC graduate student in film production. Working as a teaching instructor for a class of U.S. Navy students who were being taught documentary cinematography, Lucas directed the short film Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138, which won first prize at the 1967–68 National Student film festival, and was later adapted into his first full-length feature film, THX 1138. -
George Lucas Early life
Lucas was awarded a student scholarship by Warner Bros. to observe and work on the making of a film of his choosing. The film he chose was Finian's Rainbow (1968) which was being directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who was revered among film school students of the time as a cinema graduate who had "made it" in Hollywood. In 1969, Lucas was one of the camera operators on the classic Rolling Stones concert film Gimme Shelter.
