US director Irvin Kershner, who made The Empire Strikes Back, has died at the age of 87, Star Wars creator George Lucas said Monday, praising him as a “mentor” and a “true gentleman”.
Kershner, who also directed Sean Connery as James Bond in Never Say Never Again (1983) and Peter Weller in Robocop II (1990), died at home in Los Angeles after a long illness.
Lucas, who hired Kershner to make the second Star Wars movie in 1980, said he had lost a friend. “The world has lost a great director and one of the most genuine people I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. Irvin Kershner was a true gentleman,” he said. —AP