Gary Kurtz

Hands-on producer who helped make Star Wars a massive success

Gary Kurtz, who produced Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, helping George Lucas create one of the most successful franchises in film history, died on 23 September at a care facility near his home in London. He was 78. The cause was cancer.

The work of a film producer can vary; some are little more than financial backers, while others are essentially partners in a production. Kurtz was emphatically the latter.

“I grew up in the school where the producer was just as much a filmmaker as the cameraman,” he said in 2005.

Gary Douglas Kurtz was born in Los Angeles on 27 July 1940 and grew up in California. At college he studied music before focusing on film.

He left college to work on films. His first credited work CEREMONY FOR THE PRESENTATION OF DIPLOMAS FRIDAY, 5TH OCTOBER 2018 ADMISSION TO FELLOWSHIP AD HOMINEM: Dr Catherine J. Calderwood FRCOG, FRCPED, Frcpglasgow, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland; Professor Robert

S. D. Higgins, MSHA, FACS, The William Stewart Halsted Professor, Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA; Professor Maximo H. Simbulan, Jr., FACS, Jose Rizal School of Medicine, Xavier University, Chairman Emeritus, Maria Reyna Xavier University Hospital, Philippines.

AWARD OF FELLOWSHIP WITHOUT EXAMINATION - Mr Dimitrios Damaskos, Consultant General Surgeon, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh; Professor Christopher Liu OBE, Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon, Sussex Eye Hospital, Brighton

DIPLOMAS OF FELLOWSHIP IN THE SPECIALTY OF GENERAL SURGERY - Danaradja Arumugam, Dr MGR Medical University, India; Sudin Varghese Daniel, University of Kerala, India; Amaran Krishnan, Newcastle University; Khurram Siddique, University of the Punjab, Pakistan; Fadlo Rami Shaban, University of Edinburgh; Maddumage Don Sujith, Indeewara Wijerathne University of Colombo, Sri Lanka

DIPLOMA OF FELLOWSHIP

IN THE SPECIALTY OF OPHTHALMOLOGY - Ahmed Mahmoud Ragab Mahmoud Hussien, Alexandria University, Egypt

DIPLOMA OF FELLOWSHIP

IN THE SPECIALTY OF OTOLARYNGOLOGY - Tanya Sreeta Banerjee, University of Manchester

DIPLOMA OF FELLOWSHIP IN included serving as production manager on the Roger Corman movies Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965) and Queen of Blood (1966).

Inthelate1960s,kurtzserved in Vietnam. After his service ended in 1969 he returned to the United States and met Francis Ford Coppola, who introduced him to Lucas.

Kurtz first worked with Lucas on his breakout film, coming-of-age comedy American THE SPECIALTY OF PAEDIATRIC SURGERY - Evelyn Ervine, Queen’s University, Belfast

DIPLOMAS OF FELLOWSHIP IN THE SPECIALTY OF PLASTIC SURGERY - Amer Hussain, Quaidi-azam University, Pakistan; Waseemullah Khan, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Pakistan

DIPLOMAS OF FELLOWSHIP IN THE SPECIALTY OF TRAUMA & ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY - Ramesh Dalwai, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, India; Rohit Gangadharan, Pondicherry University, India; Gary Michael Hannant, University of London; Waleed Selmy Kheder Shahoda, Cairo University, Egypt

DIPLOMA OF FELLOWSHIP IN THE SPECIALTY OF UROLOGY - Hazel Elizabeth Smith, University of Edinburgh

JOINT SURGICAL COLLEGES’ DIPLOMA OF FELLOWSHIP IN TRAUMA & ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY - Armughan Azhar, University of the Punjab, Pakistan

DIPLOMA OF MEMBERSHIP IN OPHTHALMOLOGY - Mohammad Hasan Bokhari, University of Health Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

DIPLOMAS OF MEMBERSHIP IN OTOLARYNGOLOGY - Daniel Jason Lin, University of Warwick; Rasads Misirovs, Riga Stradins University, Latvia; Wai Thet Phyo, Yangon University, Myanmar

INTERCOLLEGIATE DIPLOMAS OF MEMBERSHIP IN SURGERY IN GENERAL - Rajendiran Ashwin; Pondicherry University, India; Niladri Banerjee, West Bengal University of Health Sciences, India; Shubhendu Chakraborty, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh; Prashanth Krishna Gopalaswamy, Sri Ramachandra University, India; Alok Gupta, Guru Gobind Graffiti (1973), and later collaborated with him on the first two films of the Star Wars saga.

Kurtz and Coppola produced the low-budget American Graffiti, which made tens of millions and was nominated for five Academy Awards. During the filming, which was frenetic but completed on time and under budget, Kurtz and Lucas talked about making a very different kind of movie: a space opera that broke from the trend of post-apocalyptic science fiction movies.

Kurtz helped Lucas pitch the film to studios, scout locations, hire a cast and crew and create dazzling special effects. Star Wars, released in 1977, became one of the most successful films of all time, earning hundreds of millions of pounds and winning seven Academy Awards. Singh Indraprastha University, India; Katherine Victoria Hurst, Cardiff University; Zahra Ibtasar, University of Health Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan; Muhammad Waqas Ilyas, University of Health Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan; Allan Johnston, University of Glasgow; Pushkar Prafulla Joshi, Maharashtra University of Health, Sciences, India; Xiang Wei Jonathan Lee, University of Southampton; Talal Majeed, King Edward Medical University, Pakistan; William David Maynard, University of Birmingham; James Kyalo Mbuvi, University of Nairobi, Kenya; Ki Shing Victor Miu, University of Leicester; Abdul Kareem Mohamed Naleem, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka; Naufal Rizwan Ahmed Rameezuddin Ahmed, Dr

MGR Medical University, India; Nallathamby Sivashangar, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

DIPLOMAS IN MOUNTAIN MEDICINE - Kathryn Powell, Newcastle University; Bill Uttley, University of Edinburgh

DIPLOMA OF MEMBERSHIP OF THE FACULTY OF PERIOPERATIVE CARE - Jane Louise Herbert, Edge Hill University, Manchester

AWARD OF FELLOWSHIP IN DENTAL SURGERY (WITHOUT EXAMINATION – BY APPLICATION) - Manar Khalil Alhajrasi, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia

DIPLOMA OF FELLOWSHIP IN RESTORATIVE DENTISTRY - Jennifer Jalili, University of London

DIPLOMA OF MEMBERSHIP IN ENDODONTICS - Ali Abduireda Abdulla Munwah, October 6 University, Egypt

DIPLOMAS OF MEMBERSHIP IN ORAL & MAXILLOFACIAL SURGERY - Omkar Anand Shetye, Goa University, India; Saad Ahmed

After Star Wars, Lucas and Kurtz began work on a sequel, The Empire Strikes Back. Production problems meant the film was not ready on time and went over budget. Still, it had major box-office success and many critics consider it the best Star Wars film.

Kurtz’s collaboration with Lucas ended shortly after Empire was released because of differences over the planned third film in the series. Kurtz later said he had objected to what he saw as Lucas’ overly upbeat treatment of the story, which eventually became Return of the Jedi (1983).

His other films included Return to Oz (1985) and Slipstream (1989).

Kurtz is survived by his third wife, Clare, two daughters, a son and three stepsons. DANIEL E SLOTNIK Khokhar, Baqai Medical University, Pakistan

DIPLOMAS OF MEMBERSHIP IN ORTHODONTICS - Nina Baizura Binti Abdul Aziz, University of Malaya, Malaysia; Sukhi Kaur Atwal, University of Manchester; Ahmed Tarek Farouk Ahmed, Soliman Aboshousha, October 6 University, Egypt; Julia Therese Mangan, National University of Ireland; Lisa Wong, University of Sydney, Australia

DIPLOMAS OF MEMBERSHIP IN PRIMARY DENTAL CARE - Edward Alexander Coakley, University of Dundee; Michael John Pawley, University of Manchester

DIPLOMA OF MEMBERSHIP IN PROSTHODONTICS - Paul Gerard Grimshaw, University of Sheffield

DIPLOMAS OF MEMBERSHIP OF THE FACULTY OF DENTAL SURGERY - James Alexander Ogden Fitton, University of Leeds; Mohammad Ghafraan Hussain, University of London; Hannan Naseer Imran, Newcastle University; Abeera Imran, University of Manchester; Nimesh Devshi Karsondas, University of Manchester; Nakul Hitesh Rajani, University of Manchester; Zara Rehman, Prague University, Czech Republic; Chandni Shah, University of Sheffield; Amruta Rajesh Sheth, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, India; Kenneth James Speirs Strain, University of Aberdeen

DIPLOMAS OF MEMBERSHIP OF THE FACULTY OF DENTAL TRAINERS - Tze Bill Ip, University of Liverpool; Charles Nicholas Turner, University of Dundee

DIPLOMA IN ORTHODONTIC THERAPY - Shonagh Marie Maxwell Robertson, Edinburgh Dental Institute