Richard Marquand on AllMovie

Educated at Cambridge and in France, Welsh-born Richard Marquand got his show-business start as a Hong Kong TV newscaster. His filmmaking career began in the documentary department of the British Broadcasting Corporation, where, in partnership with producer James Cameron, he worked on such prestigious projects as the 1972 series Search for the Nile. Marquand incorporated many of his finely-honed documentary techniques in his dramatized 1979 TV movie The Birth of the Beatles. On the strength of his direction of the 1981 feature Eye of the Needle, Marquand was hired by George Lucas to direct Return of the Jedi (1983). Subsequent efforts like The Jagged Edge (1985) seemed to presage a profitable future for the director. Tragically, the 49-year-old Richard Marquand died in 1987 of a stroke and a heart attack; his last film, Hearts of Fire, was released posthumously.