Ann Brebner, a renowned San Francisco based casting director, who worked for George Lucas on THX 1138, American Graffiti, and the very first reading of Star Wars, has died. She was 93.
A native of New Zealand, she and her husband, the late actor John Brebner, launched the Bay Area’s first professional casting agency in 1960.
She cast actors for such Lucas films as THX 1138 (1971), his first feature, and American Graffiti (1973), and the first dramatic reading of his screenplay for 1977’s Star Wars came in her San Francisco office.
Afterward, the writer-director gave her a copy of the script, which was sold at auction in July. (Reports put the price tag at more than $25,000.)
Recalling the casting of Star Wars, she said:
“In 1975, George called me to tell me he had completed writing a first draft of a movie [then known as] The Star Wars,” she wrote in a letter that accompanied her copy of the script. “He asked whether I would arrange a reading of it. He brought me a script, we went through some ideas about casting, and I brought together a group of actors together. The reading took place in one of my conference rooms, in San Francisco in late August 1975.”
“When George packed up the scripts to take them home, I asked if I could keep mine. He agreed, but I was not to let anyone else read it. I kept that promise. ‘My’ copy has been in my office ever since.”
In 2015, Lucas inscribed the title page in blue ink: “To Ann Thanks [for] all your help George Lucas.”
