This leading contemporary figure in the world of visual effects was one of the founders of Lucasfilm's fabled special effects company Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). Indeed, Richard Edlund described himself to VARIETY in 1986 as "the architect" of ILM. He made his feature debut as an FX photographer of miniatures and opticals on a genre landmark, George Lucas' "Star Wars" (1977). Though now rather quaint (Lucas released a version with updated FX in January 1997), the "Star Wars" visual effects were deemed state-of-the-art in their day. Working under special effects supervisor John Dykstra,