RIP Marcia Lucas, Award-Winning Editor of 'Star Wars'

Marcia Lucas, an editor of major movies, including Star Wars and Taxi Driver, passed away on Friday from metastatic cancer. She was 80. Born October 4, 1945, Lucas (née Griffin) started her Hollywood career as a film librarian, later earning an apprenticeship in the Motion Pictures Editors Guild. After editing promo films and trailers, she became an assistant editor for Verna Fields on documentary covering Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1967 Asia trip. It was there where she met USC student (and fellow AE) George Lucas, and the pair became engaged. Griffin (now Lucas) then transitioned to feature film editing, working as an AE on Lucas’ THX 1138 before making her debut as lead editor with 1973’s American Grafitti, which landed her and Fields Academy Award nomination for Best Film Editing. Marcia edited one other film—Martin Scorsese’s 1974 flick (and studio film debut) Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore—before moving on to Star Wars. She worked as co-editor with George and took over from original editor John Jympson, and spent eight weeks alone editing the Death Star run. Her editing, which has been hailed as a work of miracles, is why Han Solo’s return to the fight lands as strong as it does, a