Gloria Pearl Katz (October 25, 1942 – November 25, 2018) was an American screenwriter and film producer, best known for her association with film director George Lucas.
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Biography
Early life
Katz was born in Los Angeles, California; the oldest of two children born to homemaker Pauline Wallach and Reuben Katz, who owned a truck terminal. Her younger brother is cinematographer Stephen M. Katz.
She majored in English as an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley and obtained a masters in film at UCLA.
Career
Along with her husband Willard Huyck - a college friend of George Lucas - Katz's credited screenplays include American Graffiti, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Howard the Duck, and the unproduced film Night Ride Down.
As uncredited script doctors, a common practice, Katz and Huyck helped polish Lucas's script for Star Wars: Katz and Huyck are responsible for helping Lucas write some of the humor in the film and create some developments for Princess Leia.
In 1973, Katz was nominated two Academy Awards for Best Screenplay for American Graffiti.
Personal life and death
Katz and Huyck married in 1969; they stayed married until her death. They had one child, a daughter named Rebecca.
Katz died from ovarian cancer on November 25, 2018, one month after her 76th birthday.