Editing George Lucas (section)

== Early life and education ==
Lucas was born and raised in [[Modesto, California]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Biography |url=http://www.historicmodesto.com/People/George%20Lucas/index.html |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=www.historicmodesto.com |archive-date=December 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231212154053/http://www.historicmodesto.com/People/George%20Lucas/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> the son of Dorothy Ellinore Lucas (née Bomberger) and George Walton Lucas Sr., and is of German, Swiss German, English, Scottish, and distant Dutch and French descent.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.americanancestors.org/third-set-of-ten-hollywood/ |title=No. 83 Royal Descents, Notable Kin, and Printed Sources: A Third Set of Ten Hollywood Figures (or Groups Thereof), with a Coda on Two Directors |publisher=[[New England Historic Genealogical Society]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018155421/http://www.americanancestors.org/third-set-of-ten-hollywood/ |first=Gary Boyd |last=Roberts |date=April 18, 2008 |archive-date=October 18, 2014}}</ref> His family attended [[Disneyland]] during its opening week in July 1955, and Lucas would remain enthusiastic about the park.{{sfn|Jones|2016|p=26}} He was interested in comics and science fiction, including television programs such as the ''[[Flash Gordon (serial)|Flash Gordon]]'' serials.{{sfn|Jones|2016|pp=22, 25}} 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, a few days before his high school graduation, Lucas was driving his souped-up [[Autobianchi Bianchina]] when another driver broadsided him,{{efn|Lucas was later ticketed for making an illegal left-hand turn.<ref name=Private/>}} flipping his car several times before it crashed into a tree; Lucas's seatbelt had snapped, ejecting him and thereby saving his life.<ref name=Private/> However, his lungs were bruised from severe hemorrhaging and he required emergency medical treatment.<ref name=Private>{{cite magazine |last=Pollock |first=Dale |title=A Man and His Empire: The Private Life of 'Star Wars' Creator George Lucas |magazine=Life |date=June 1983 |pages=85–86}}</ref> This incident caused him to lose interest in racing as a career, but also inspired him to pursue his other interests.<ref name=pollockskywalking>Pollock, Dale, ''Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas'', Harmony Books, New York, 1983, {{ISBN|0-517-54677-9}}</ref><ref>[http://www.oprah.com/own-oprahs-next-chapter/Filmmaker-George-Lucas-Near-Death-Experience-Video "Filmmaker George Lucas' Near-Death Experience"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230170007/http://www.oprah.com/own-oprahs-next-chapter/Filmmaker-George-Lucas-Near-Death-Experience-Video |date=December 30, 2012 }}, ''oprah.com'', January 22, 2012. Retrieved October 13, 2012.</ref>

Lucas's father owned a stationery store, and had wanted George to work for him when he turned 18. Lucas had been planning to go to art school, but his father said he wouldn't pay for it. Lucas declared upon leaving home that he would be a millionaire by the age of 30.{{Sfn|Jones|2016|p=36}}{{efn|He became a millionaire at the age of 28 after selling ''[[American Graffiti]]'' to theaters.{{Sfn|Jones|2016|p=161}}}} He attended [[Modesto Junior College]], where he studied [[anthropology]], sociology, and literature, amongst other subjects.<ref name=pollockskywalking /> He also began shooting with an 8&nbsp;mm camera, including filming car races.<ref name=pollockskywalking /> At this time, Lucas became interested in [[Canyon Cinema]]: screenings of [[Underground film|underground]], [[avant-garde]] 16&nbsp;mm filmmakers like [[Jordan Belson]], [[Stan Brakhage]] and [[Bruce Conner]].<ref name=WiredMay2005>{{cite magazine |first=Steve |last=Silberman |url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.05/lucas.html |title=Life After Darth |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |date=May 2005 |access-date=October 11, 2012 |archive-date=January 4, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104163710/https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.05/lucas.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Lucas and childhood friend John Plummer also saw classic European films of the time, including [[Jean-Luc Godard]]'s ''[[Breathless (1960 film)|Breathless]]'', [[François Truffaut]]'s ''[[Jules and Jim|Jules et Jim]]'' and [[Federico Fellini]]'s ''[[8½]]''.<ref name=WiredMay2005 /> "That's when George really started exploring," Plummer said.<ref name=WiredMay2005 /> Through his interest in [[autocross]] racing, Lucas met renowned [[cinematographer]] [[Haskell Wexler]], another race enthusiast.<ref name=pollockskywalking /><ref name=WiredMay2005 /> Wexler, later to work with Lucas on several occasions, was impressed by Lucas's talent.<ref name=pollockskywalking /> "George had a very good eye, and he thought visually," he recalled.<ref name=WiredMay2005 />

At Plummer's recommendation,<ref name=according>{{cite book |last=Sunstein |first=Cass R. |title=The World According to Star Wars |year=2016 |publisher=Harper Collins}}</ref> Lucas then transferred to the [[University of Southern California]] (USC) [[School of Cinematic Arts]]. USC was one of the earliest universities to have a school devoted to [[motion picture film]]. During the years at USC, Lucas shared a dorm room with [[Randal Kleiser]]. Along with classmates such as [[Walter Murch]], [[Caleb Deschanel]], [[Hal Barwood]], [[John Milius]] and [[Matthew Robbins (screenwriter)|Matthew Robbins]], they became a clique of film students known as [[The Dirty Dozen (filmmaking)|The Dirty Dozen]]. He also became good friends with fellow acclaimed student filmmaker and future ''[[Indiana Jones]]'' collaborator, [[Steven Spielberg]] and [[Martin Scorsese]].{{efn|Spielberg attended a USC screening in early 1968 and met Lucas after being impressed by his ''[[Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB]]''.{{sfn|Jones|2016|p=92}}}}

A group of friends, which included [[Christopher Lewis (screenwriter)|Chris Lewis]] and [[Donald F. Glut|Don Glut]], started the Clean Cut Cinema Club. Lucas, Kleiser and Lewis then formed a short-lived production company called Sunrise Productions with offices on Sunset Boulevard. There they would make up stage names for themselves, Lucas calling himself Lucas Beaumont. Their only project would be the never completed short "Five, Four, Three", a self-referential and self-deprecating mockumentary about the making of a satirical teen beach movie called "Orgy Beach Party".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SQOrCgAAQBAJ&dq=Kleiser+Randal+Jon+Lucas+Beaumont+Sunrise&pg=PT43 George Lucas, by Brian Jay Jones (2016)]</ref>

Lucas was deeply influenced by the Filmic Expression course taught at the school by filmmaker [[Lester Novros]] which concentrated on the non-narrative elements of Film Form like color, light, movement, space, and time. Another inspiration was the Serbian montagist (and dean of the USC Film Department) [[Slavko Vorkapich]], a film theoretician who made stunning [[Montage (filmmaking)|montage]] sequences for Hollywood studio features at [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]], [[RKO Pictures|RKO]], and [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]]. Vorkapich taught the autonomous nature of the cinematic art form, emphasizing the kinetic energy inherent in motion pictures.

After graduating with a bachelor of [[fine arts]] in film in 1967, he tried joining the [[United States Air Force]] as an officer, but he was immediately turned down because of his numerous speeding tickets. He was later [[Conscription|drafted]] by the United States Army for military service in [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]], but he was exempted from service after medical tests showed he had [[diabetes]], the disease that killed his paternal grandfather.{{Sfn|Jones|2016|p=65}}