Willard Huyck

Willard Miller Huyck, Jr. (born September 8, 1945) is an American retired screenwriter, director and producer, best known for his association with George Lucas.

Career

Huyck and Lucas met as students at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and became members of Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope group of filmmakers. Along with his wife Gloria Katz, Huyck wrote screenplays for films including American Graffiti, Lucky Lady, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Radioland Murders, and the unproduced film Night Ride Down. They also performed uncredited script polishing on the original Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope.

Huyck also directed four films, which he co-wrote with Gloria Katz: Messiah of Evil, French Postcards, Best Defense, and Howard the Duck. Katz and Huyck also wrote and produced the NBC television films A Father's Homecoming and Mothers, Daughters and Lovers. Willard Huyck is a current member of the Writers Guild of America and Directors Guild of America.

In addition to their work in the film industry, Katz and Huyck are well known as art collectors, having collected Indian miniature paintings beginning in the 1970s. This collection was sold at a Sotheby's auction in New York City in 2001. In subsequent years, they amassed a collection of Japanese photography that spanned from the late 1850s to the present. This collection was acquired in 2018 by the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art. The couple also wrote a photographic catalogue of the collection entitled "Views of Japan," designed and edited by Manfred Heiting and published by Steidl. Huyck is a member of the J. Paul Getty Museum Photography Council.

Personal life Huyck married Katz in 1969. They remained married until her death in 2018. They have one daughter, Rebecca, born in 1983.

Filmography Film

Other credits +YearTitleRoleNotes 1977 Star Wars Script doctor Uncredited 1979 More American Graffiti Based on the characters created by 2009 Remembering Messiah of Evil Special thanks Video documentary short 2013 A Fuller Life Thanks Documentary film

Television