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George Lucas

Star Wars & Indiana Jones film director & vineyard owner

featured in Famous residents Updated

George Lucas was born in California and is best known for being the creator of the incredibly popular Indiana Jones and Star Wars film franchises.

More recently he has become involved in the wine business, opening up Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, in the United States and in 2017 he purchased Château Margüi near Barjols in Provence.

George Lucas's film career started when he was a student at the University of Southern California. Whilst there he produced several films, the most notable of which "THX-1138: 4EB (Electronic Labyinth)" won him first prize at a student film festival in 1968. After meeting and collaborating with Francis Ford Coppola, on American Graffiti in 1973 he won the Golden Globe and five Academy Award nominations, which set his career off to a great start.

Shortly after he started writing and putting together the Star Wars films, the first of which was released in 1977. This was followed by two more films and at the same time, he established subsidiary companies Industrial Light & Magic and Sprocket Systems, for sound editing and special effects. Lucas also revolutionised cinemas with the T.H.X. System, which was created to maintain the highest quality standards in motion picture viewing.

Whilst still working on Star Wars, Lucas then went on to work on a new adventure films series with Steven Spielberg, Indiana Jones, another set of huge successes. Then, reverting back to Star Wars, he started to release the three prequel movies, the latest of which was released in 2005.

He set up the George Lucas Educational Foundation, which helps improve children's education standards through project and team-based learning.

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