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Having studied film at the University of Southern California, Irvin Kershner began making documentaries for the U.S. Information Service in the early '50s. After working in television, he co-scripted and directed his first feature, the crime drama Stakeout on Dope Street, for executive producer Roger Corman. Kershner hit his stride in the mid '60s with the Brian Moore adaptation The Luck of Ginger Coffey, the romantic satire A Fine Madness, and the marital-crisis drama Loving; his '70s work included the comedy Up the Sandbox and the thriller The Eyes of Laura Mars. Kershner also helmed big-budget action and adventure films such as producer George Lucas' The Empire Strikes Back, the James Bond tale Never Say Never Again, and RoboCop II. He died at age 87, following a lengthy illness, in 2010.