LucasfilmStar Wars is often solely credited to George Lucas, but, like every movie, it was a massive group project with hundreds of credited cast and crew each providing their own talents. One of those hundreds of people was Marcia Lucas, George Lucas’ then-wife, who won an Academy Award for her efforts in editing the original 1977 movie, then, just called Star Wars, later retitled in 1981 to Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope.Marcia Lucas passed away on May 27, at the age of 80, and Star Wars fans may not realize just how influential she was to the franchise, single-handedly fighting for so many of the most memorable elements of what has become a massive phenomenon.Marcia Lucas won the Academy Award for Best Editing alongside editors Richard Chew and Paul Hirsch. | ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty ImagesMarcia Lucas’s Ticking Death Star Clock Marcia Lucas wasn’t initially going to edit Star Wars. George Lucas initially hired John Jympson, who previously directed A Hard Day’s Night, but his work left him (and film executives) unimpressed. Jympson was fired, and Marcia Lucas jumped in halfway, editing the most important part of the entire movie — the Battle of Yavin, where Luke Skywalker makes an impossible shot to destroy the Death Star. What did she change here? What was so important? Well, the idea that the Death Star had a set amount of time — 30 minutes to be cleared to fire on the Rebel Base. This ticking clock was not in the script, nor was anything filmed to reflect the idea that the Imperials had to wait to fire the superlaser at the Yavin base. What Marcia Lucas’ editing did was create a clever voiceover, along with well-placed close-ups of characters reacting to the ticking clock (Leia, Tarkin, et al.), to give the battle and Luke’s eventual trench run much higher, nail-biting stakes.She left the project in 1976 to work on Martin Scorsese’s New York, New York, but her work and advice ring through the memory of countless people who worked on the movie. There were other light touches that the late Marcia Lucas added to the first film:“I know for a fact that Marcia Lucas was responsible for convincing [George Lucas] to keep that little ‘kiss for luck’ before Carrie [Fisher] and I swing across the chasm in the first film,” Mark Hamill told Film Freak Central. “‘Oh, I don't like it, people laugh in the previews,’ and she said, ‘George, they're laughing because it's so sweet and unexpected’ — and her influence was such that if she wanted to keep it, it was in.”“She was really the warmth and the heart of those films, a good person he could talk to, bounce ideas off of, who would tell him when he was wrong,” Mark Hamill said of Marcia and George Lucas. | WWD/WWD/Getty ImagesBack in 2022, Marcia Lucas appeared in Icons Unearthed: Star Wars, a docuseries that now stands as her last filmed interview. In this documentary, now streaming on Tubi, she reveals all kinds of secrets from production, including how George Lucas got the idea to make Luke and Vader related from a joke at a dinner party. But Lucas’ influence wasn’t just limited to Star Wars. After viewing a rough cut of Raiders of the Lost Ark, she questioned why Marion didn’t appear again at the end, leading Steven Spielberg to film a final scene featuring her. Much like Carrie Fisher’s work as a script doctor, Marcia Lucas’ work on these movies often goes unrecognized, but she’s a crucial part of Star Wars history. Without her, this series just wouldn’t be the same. Icons Unearthed: Star Wars streams on Tubi. The original 1977 Star Wars streams on Disney+.