- published: 22 Jan 2016
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George Walton Lucas, Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and entrepreneur. He is best known as the creator of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, as well as the founder of Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic. He led Lucasfilm as chairman and chief executive before selling it to The Walt Disney Company in 2012.
Upon graduating from the University of Southern California in 1967, Lucas co-founded American Zoetrope with fellow filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. He wrote and directed THX 1138 (1971), based on his earlier student short Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, which was a critical success but a financial failure. Lucas's next work as a writer-director was the film American Graffiti (1973), inspired by his teen years in early 1960s Modesto, California, and produced through the newly founded Lucasfilm. The film was critically and commercially successful, and received five Academy Award nominations including Best Picture.
Lucas's next film, an epic space opera then titled Star Wars (1977), went through a troubled production process, but was a surprise hit, becoming the highest-grossing film at the time as well as a winner of six Academy Awards and a cultural phenomenon. Following the first Star Wars film, Lucas only produced and co-wrote the following installments in the trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). Along with Steven Spielberg, he co-created and wrote the Indiana Jones films Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Temple of Doom (1984), and The Last Crusade (1989). Lucas also produced a variety of films through Lucasfilm in the 1980s and 1990s.
Actors: Rob Lowe (actor), Martin Luther King (actor), Larry King (actor), Ming Lo (actor), Bryant Gumbel (actor), Jake Busey (actor), John Hurt (actor), Adolf Hitler (actor), Bill Clinton (actor), Jay Leno (actor), Neil Armstrong (actor), William Fichtner (actor), Robin Gammell (actor), Marc Macaulay (actor), Douglas MacArthur (actor),
Plot: Astronomer Dr. Ellie Arroway has long been interested in contact to faraway lands, a love fostered in her childhood by her father, Ted Arroway, who passed away when she was nine years old leaving her then orphaned. Her current work in monitoring for extraterrestrial life is based on that love and is in part an homage to her father. Ever since funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) was pulled on her work, which is referred to some, including her NSF superior David Drumlin, as more science fiction than science, Ellie, with a few of her rogue scientist colleagues, have looked for funding from where ever they could get it to continue their work. When Ellie and her colleagues hear chatter originating from the vicinity of the star Vega, Ellie feels vindicated. But that vindication is short lived when others, including politicians, the military, religious leaders and other scientists such as Drumlin, try to take over her work. When the messages received from space are decoded, the project takes on a whole new dimension, which strengthens for Ellie the quest for the truth. Thrown into the mix are the unknown person who has up until now funded most of Ellie's work and what his motivations are, and Palmer Joss, a renowned author and theologian, who despite their fundamental differences in outlook, is mutually attracted to Ellie, that attraction based in part on intellect and their common goal of wanting to know the truth.
Keywords: airwaves, alien, alien-contact, alien-intelligence, alien-technology, altered-version-of-studio-logo, amateur-radio, astronomer, astronomy, atheistActors: Cindy Baer (actress), Annette O'Toole (actress), Steven Weber (actor), John H. Tobin (actor), Eddie Jones (actor), Campbell Scott (actor), Pat Hingle (actor), Casey Affleck (actor), Olek Krupa (actor), Josef Sommer (actor), Thomas Gibson (actor), Peter Gerety (actor), Charles Durning (actor), David Shire (composer), Edgar J. Scherick (producer),
Plot: This sweeping mini-series profiling the Kennedy family ran three nights. The film chronicles 55 years in the lives of the family opening in 1906 with the marriage of Joseph P. Kennedy, a Harvard graduate, to Rose Fitzgerald, the daughter of Boston's Mayor. The first night focuses on the marriage's troubled years and Rose's strength in developing a real family. The second night covered the years of 1928 - 1940 and Jospeh's years as working as a movie producer and then an ambassador. The final night follows the Kennedy's tragedies during World War II and follows the post war years political successes of John Kennedy.
Keywords: based-on-book, character-name-in-title, tv-mini-seriesActors: Brent Spiner (actor), G.D. Spradlin (actor), Maurice Marsac (actor), Matthew Faison (actor), George Grizzard (actor), Mitch Ryan (actor), Joe Pantoliano (actor), Bruce French (actor), Pat Corley (actor), Jason Bateman (actor), Ned Beatty (actor), Walter Gotell (actor), Cliff De Young (actor), Jack Warden (actor), Jeffrey Tambor (actor),
Plot: A personal portrait of one of the most controversial men of this century and the turbulent times in which he lived. An entire era, including the fight for civil rights, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the American entry into Vietnam, and the eventual protest against it, was shaped by Bobby Kennedy.
Keywords: american-president, based-on-book, campaign, fbi-chief, kennedy-family, political-primary, president, tv-mini-series, u.s.-presidentActors: Brent Spiner (actor), G.D. Spradlin (actor), Maurice Marsac (actor), Matthew Faison (actor), George Grizzard (actor), Mitch Ryan (actor), Joe Pantoliano (actor), Bruce French (actor), Pat Corley (actor), Jason Bateman (actor), Ned Beatty (actor), Walter Gotell (actor), Cliff De Young (actor), Jack Warden (actor), Jeffrey Tambor (actor),
Plot: A personal portrait of one of the most controversial men of this century and the turbulent times in which he lived. An entire era, including the fight for civil rights, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the American entry into Vietnam, and the eventual protest against it, was shaped by Bobby Kennedy.
Keywords: american-president, based-on-book, campaign, fbi-chief, kennedy-family, political-primary, president, tv-mini-series, u.s.-presidentActors: Stephen Elliott (actor), Peter Strauss (actor), James Sikking (actor), John Barry (composer), Robert Englund (actor), Steve Kanaly (actor), Barbara Parkins (actress), Ken Swofford (actor), Simon Oakland (actor), Darleen Carr (actress), Richard T. Heffron (director), Sam Chew Jr. (actor), Patrick Labyorteaux (actor), Ronald J. Fagan (editor), Asher Brauner (actor),
Plot: Joseph Kennedy Jr. was the eldest son of the Kennedy clan. He grew up having to deal with being humiliated and the prejudices of being an Irish Catholic. His father then tells him that the best way to get back at them is make a big impact in politics, in other words to one day be the President of the United States, and he wishes to do so. But first he has to survive World War II, and also he has to do something to make a splash like his brother, Jack who was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal in 1943 following his exploits commanding PT 109.
Keywords: based-on-novel, character-name-in-title, death-of-son, kennedy-family, world-war-two