George Lucas - the creator of Star Wars

Lucas attended Thomas Downey High School, where he was an indifferent student at best and dreamed of becoming a professional race car driver. That early dream ended June 12, 1962, when he crashed his Fiat Bianchina. The car was clipped from behind while he tried to make a left turn into his driveway. The car rolled; the racing harness that he had installed snapped, and he was thrown from the car. Had the harness not snapped—and Lucas has said it shouldn't have—he would most likely have been crushed to death by the steering column when the car smashed into a walnut tree. (The force of the impact uprooted the tree).

During his recovery, Lucas reevaluated his life and decided to go to college. He enrolled at Modesto Junior College, where he earned an AA degree, then transferred to the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television. USC was one of the earliest universities to have a school devoted to film studies. There he made a number of short films, including an early version of THX 1138 (the complete title was "Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB"), which later became his first full-length feature film.

After graduating with a bachelor of fine arts in film in 1966, he drifted a little, trying to figure out what to do next. He tried joining the Air Force as an officer, but was turned down because of his numerous speeding tickets. He was later drafted by the Army, but tests showed he had diabetes, which killed his paternal grandfather. Lucas was prescribed medication for the disease and does not seem to have required insulin. In 1967, Lucas re-enrolled as a USC graduate student in film production.

Eventually he co-founded the studio American Zoetrope with Francis Ford Coppola, hoping to create a liberating environment for filmmakers to direct outside the perceived oppressive control of the Hollywood studio system. From the financial success of his films American Graffiti (1973) and (1977), Lucas was able to set up his own studio, Lucasfilm, in Marin County in his native northern California. Skywalker Sound and Industrial Light and Magic, the sound and visual effects subdivisions of Lucasfilm, respectively, have become among the most respected firms in their fields. Lucasfilm Games, later renamed to LucasArts, is highly regarded in the gaming industry.