Irvin Kershner, director of 'The Empire Strikes Back,' dies at 87

Kershner died on Saturday in his Los Angeles home after struggling with lung cancer for a three and a half years period.

George Lucas who had hired Kershner to direct 'The Empire' wrote, “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 in every sense of the word.”

Kershner’s works
Irvin Kershner first came to limelight for directing 'Stakeout on Dope Street,' a low budget crime feature film in 1958.

"He was a director of extraordinary versatility," Peter Rainer, film critic for The Christian Science Monitor, told the Los Angeles Times on Monday.

Other well known films directed by him include 'The Hoodlum Priest,' 'The Luck of Ginger Coffey,' 'A Fine Madness,' 'The Flim-Flam Man,' 'Loving,' 'Up the Sandbox,' 'The Return of a Man Called Horse,' 'Eyes of Laura Mars,' the James Bond film 'Never Say Never Again' and 'RoboCop 2.'

Kershner has also directed several episodes of TV programs like 'The Rebel,' 'Ben Casey' and 'Naked City.'

"He was a director of extraordinary versatility," Peter Rainer, film critic for The Christian Science Monitor, told the Los Angeles Times on Monday.

"If you look at the reach of his movies, from 'Empire Strikes Back' to 'Loving,' one of the most nuanced and powerful Hollywood films ever made about a marital breakup, I'd say he was probably the most successful versatile director in Hollywood," Rainer said. "He could do just about anything really well, from science fiction to cult thrillers to domestic dramas to westerns to romantic comedies."

Kershner’s early life
Kershner was born on April 29, 1923 at Philadelphia.

After completing his education at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, he went on to serve as a flight engineer in the Army Air Forces during World War II.

He later studied photography at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles after which he took up the job of a still photographer on a State Department film crew in Iran.

The job led Kershner to make several documentaries in the Middle East and Europe for the United States Information Service. After this there was no looking back.