Robert Watts, the British producer and production manager who collaborated with George Lucas on the first three Star Wars films and the first three Indiana Jones films, has died. He was 86 years old.
Watts died Monday, said his representative, Julian Owen of Alliance Agents The Hollywood journalist. “We stayed with him for a decade taking him to conventions around the world, where he could connect with fans and talk about his career,” Owen said.
Watts also worked alongside Indiana Jones director Steven Spielberg on the Spielberg-produced film Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) e An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991).
Extremely challenging for the first ones Star Wars film, Watts served as production supervisor under production designer John Barry, and the two traveled to Morocco and Tunisia to scout locations. He then directed the third unit.
“We were under a lot of pressure from 20th Century Fox,” Watts recalled in a 2011 interview. “They also had big financial problems and didn't believe in the movie. At the time we were the only Fox film shot anywhere in the world. Their eyes were on us and George was under a lot of pressure. Consequently, we all were.”
The film was obviously an overwhelming success. Watts then moved into the role of associate producer The Empire strikes again (1980) – recommended his half-brother Jeremy Bulloch to play Boba Fett – and was co-producer of Return of the Jedi (1983).
Watts was born in London on May 23, 1938. His grandfather Walter Meade was a screenwriter whose credits included the war film Scott of Antarctica (1948), with John Mills.
After two years of national service in Nigeria, Watts entered the film world as a runner in comedy A French lover (1960), he then spent two years as production manager at Shepperton Studios.
He was a second assistant director in The man in the middle (1964), by Roman Polanski Repulsion (1965), by John Schlesinger Treasure (1965) and by Terence Young Thunder (1965); a location manager for Lewis Gilbert You only live twice (1967); and production manager of Bud Yorkin's Inspector Clouseau (1968), by Stanley Kubrick 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), by John Guillermin El Condor (1970) and by Franklin J. Schaffner Bow tie (1973).
Watts also served as production manager The wrath of God (1972) — Rita Hayworth's last film — when she first met producer Gary Kurtz, who was preparing American graffiti with Luca. Three years later, Kurtz contacted him to ask him to work on it Star Wars.
He said that when he began working on the film in September 1976, Lucas was “paying us all personally because Fox hadn't greenlit the film yet, and they didn't until January.”
On Facebook, the interior designer Roger Christian, an Oscar winner for his work Star Warswrote that Watts “was one of 5 people who really stood by George and our little art department to get Star Wars Done.”
Also included is Watts' resume The other side of midnight (1977), produced by Lucas Return to Oz (1985), directed by Frank Marshall Live (1993) and Steven Seagal On deadly ground (1994).
Rhett Bartlett contributed to this report.