On this day, May 14, 1944, George Lucas was born. An Avant-garde director, writer, and dreamer, he took the risks to make the films he wanted to make and the world was gifted with such films as American Graffiti, Indiana Jones, THX 1138, Willow, most of all Star Wars! Thanks to his founding of Industrial Light and Magic, special effects for movies leapt forward; the company expanded and has gone on to produce special effects for nearly three hundred films, including the entire Star Wars saga, the Indiana Jones series, the Harry Potter series, the Jurassic Park series, the Back to the Future trilogy, many of the Star Trek films, Ghostbusters II, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the Pirates of the Caribbean series, the Terminator sequels, the Transformers films, the Men in Black series, Marvel Cinematic Universe films, Wild Wild West, most of the Mission: Impossible films, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Batteries Not Included, The Abyss, and Flubber. The Star Wars Universe George Lucas created grew beyond the frame of the movie screen in the original Expanded Universe, the authorized continuation of the Star Wars Saga. As the head of Lucasfilm, George commissioned many multimedia projects for Expanding the Star Wars Universe through the novels, comics, and video games. Thank the Maker! Happy Birthday, George Lucas!
