Star Wars Editor Marcia Lucas Dies at 80

Marcia Lucas, the Oscar-winning film editor who shaped the original Star Wars and was the ex-wife of director George Lucas, died Wednesday in Rancho Mirage, California, from cancer. She was 80. A California native, she entered editing through the Motion Picture Editors Guild apprenticeship program and became assistant to Verna Fields, where she met George Lucas. She edited American Graffiti, earning an Oscar nomination, and won the Academy Award for Best Editing for Star Wars alongside Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew. She suggested Darth Vader kill Obi-Wan Kenobi and cut the complex final battle sequence over eight weeks. She also edited Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and supervised editing on Taxi Driver and New York, New York. Her final credit was Return of the Jedi (1983), the year she and George divorced. She is survived by daughters Amanda Lucas and Amy Soper.