The acclaimed editor also worked on “Taxi Driver,” “American Graffiti,” “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” and “Return of the Jedi.”

Marcia Lucas, Oscar-winning Star Wars editor and former wife of George Lucas, dies at 80

The acclaimed editor also worked on "Taxi Driver," "American Graffiti," "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," and "Return of the Jedi."

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

EW's editorial guidelines

on May 29, 2026 7:52 p.m. ET

Marcia Lucas in Beverly Hills, Calif., on June 27, 2019. Credit:

Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

- Marcia Lucas, the Oscar-winning editor of *Star Wars*, died on Wednesday at 80.

- The editor died after a battle with metastatic cancer.

- She was married to George Lucas from 1969 to 1983.

Marcia Lucas, the acclaimed film editor who won an Oscar for her work on *Star Wars*, has died.

The filmmaker, who was married to George Lucas from 1969 to 1983, died at 80 on Wednesday at her vacation home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., following a battle with metastatic cancer. Her family's attorney, Deidre Von Rock, confirmed the news to * *in a statement.

"Marcia will be remembered as a brilliant storyteller, a trailblazer for women in film, a loving mother and grandmother, a generous host, and a loyal friend whose humor and sparkle filled every room she entered," the editor's family said in a statement. "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."

George Lucas and Marcia Lucas in New York City on June 21, 1977.

Lynn Karlin/WWD/Penske Media via Getty

Born Marcia Griffin in Modesto, Calif., in 1945, Marcia moved to Los Angeles as a child with her mother after her parents divorced. She worked as an apprentice film librarian at Sandler Films, where she was eventually promoted to assistant editor. She then edited a number of TV commercials.

Marcia was hired to work on *Journey to the Pacific*, a documentary about President Lyndon B. Johnson's 1967 trip to Asia. It was there that she met both Verna Fields, a legendary editor who went on to cut Steven Spielberg's *The Sugarland Express* and *Jaws*, and George Lucas, then a USC film student hired to help edit the doc.

Marcia and George began dating after completing work on the documentary, and later met Martin Scorsese at a UCLA student film festival. In 1969, she worked as an assistant editor on both *Medium Cool*, the acclaimed drama from Haskell Wexler, and *The Rain People*, an early film from Francis Ford Coppola. She married George that same year.

She then worked as an assistant editor on 1971's *THX-1138*, which marked George's directorial debut, and Michael Ritchie's *The Candidate*, the 1972 political dramedy starring Robert Redford that won an Oscar for its screenplay.

Celebrity deaths 2026: Remembering the stars who died this year

'Emily in Paris' star Pierre Deny dies at 69 after ‘sudden’ ALS battle

The Lucases both found breakthrough success with *American Graffiti*. Marcia earned her first Oscar nomination for Best Editing alongside Fields, and George earned nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. The film also grossed an estimated $140 million on a budget of just under $800,000.

Marcia then edited her first film for Scorsese, 1974's *Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore*. "I loved working for Marty, 'cause he's a character, and he's funny, and the film really worked," she said in an *Icons Unearthed* interview in 2022.

George Lucas and Marcia Lucas in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Oct. 25, 1981.

Bei/Shutterstock

She went on to work as a supervising editor on Scorsese's next two films: 1976's *Taxi Driver*, which earned her a BAFTA nomination, and 1977's *New York, New York*.

Marcia's most enduring work came in 1977 with the original *Star Wars*, which she edited alongside Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew. The trio won the Oscar for Best Editing at the 1978 Academy Awards. Marcia was particularly instrumental in the construction of the Death Star escape and the climactic Battle of Yavin.

Richard Chew, Marcia Lucas, Paul Hirsch, and Farrah Fawcett at the 1978 Oscars.

ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

The editor took credit for the signature wipe effects that serve as transitions between scenes. "I suggested to George: I thought it'd be a great idea to use wipes for scene transitions," she said. "You've seen movies where you cut to black, and then the movie continues, and then you cut to black. Well, that bothers me. As a film editor, that bothers me when I see that, because there's always a way to make the transitions work."

She also claimed that a key plot point in the film was her idea. "I said, 'What if Darth Vader kills Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Obi-Wan Kenobi disintegrates at the end of the Death Star scene when they're escaping?' And George said, 'I like that idea,'" she said. "So I sort of pride myself on killing Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Marcia received her final editing credit for 1983's *Return of the Jedi*. "He gave me all the emotional scenes: all the death scenes, all the love scenes, everything that had emotion, George wanted me to cut," she recalled.

Marcia Lucas in 2022.

The Nacelle Company

Marcia and George adopted one daughter together, Amanda, in 1981. They announced their divorce two years later in 1983, and Marcia later married and divorced Tom Rodrigues, a stained glass artist who worked on Skywalker Ranch. The couple welcomed a daughter, Amy, in 1985.

Marcia explained why she walked away from editing after adopting Amanda. "Once I had a baby at home, I was kind of ready to call it a day with my editing career," she said. "Because I had this golden statue on my mantle, and I knew I was a good editor, and I got lots of, believe me, very famous, very famous, very good directors call me to ask if I would edit their movies. But I had a baby at home, and I knew I couldn't be in a cutting room seven days a week, 12 hours a day doing what I do and have a relationship with my child."

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our****** EW Dispatch newsletter******.***

Marcia is survived by her daughters Amanda Lucas and Amy Soper; her grandchildren Felix Hallikainen, Aeliana Hallikainen, and Knox Soper; and her chosen family Sarah Dyer and Jon Taylor.

- Celebrities & Creators

- Celebrity Death News

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Celebrity”