One of the unsung heroes of the early days of Star Wars passed away this week. Gloria Katz, who along with her husband Willard Huyck served as script doctor on Star Wars back in 1976, died on Sunday after a battle with ovarian cancer. She was 76.
Katz and Hyuck worked as screenwriters in Hollywood for two decades, and their works included collaborations with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Officially, Hyuck and Katz were credited with the screenplays for American Graffiti (1973) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). They also served as script doctors on Star Wars: A New Hope, re-writing close to thirty percent of the film's dialogue.
Katz spoke about the experience working on Star Wars in an interview with The Mary Sue last year, where she explained that their goal on Star Wars was to "help with the characterization, to add as much humor as possible." When asked what her favourite contribution to Star Wars was, the answer was C-3PO's line to R2-D2 aboard the Millennium Falcon, "Let the Wookiee win."
She also spoke about writing the character of Princess Leia, saying,
"When we talked to (Lucas) about the character, we said Leia should be a more
‘Hawksian woman,’ with all the traits that that woman had: she can take
command; she doesn’t take any shit, but at the same time she’s
vulnerable and to write her as really focused, instead of just a
beautiful woman that schlepped along to be saved. For her to be the one
that initiated the action. And because Carrie Fisher was so young, the
contrast between this young girl and her goals became more poignant."
At this time our thoughts our with Katz's husband Willard, as well as her other family and friends, and we thank her for her wonderful contributions in shaping Star Wars into the film we all love.
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