Many happy returns to George Lucas, who celebrates his 69th birthday today.

Remember to support the Lucas Cultural Arts Museum on Facebook and Twitter.

You can also visit the website - which features a great nod to a certain Mr. Spielberg.

Image source: Empire

Spielberg was one of a number of directors considered as a potential director of Return of the Jedi before it went to Richard Marquand. However, he couldn’t accept the role due to George’s Lucas’s ongoing dispute with the Directors’ Guild of America.

More information on this and other films Spielberg almost made can be found in From Director Steven Spielberg’s Lost Spielberg section.

Steven Spielberg visited the set of The Phantom Menace. George Lucas showed him the special effects crew’s latest product  - a Battle Droid.

Spielberg then accidentally ripped its arm off.

Following Spielberg’s Jaws-themed ad to Lucas in 1977, and Lucas’s E.T. themed ad for Spielberg in 1982, Spielberg completed the trilogy with this ad for Lucas to celebrate the box office success of the Star Wars Special Editions in 1997.

Source: Reddit

When Star Wars knocked Jaws off its box office throne in 1977, Spielberg published this open letter to George Lucas in Variety to congratulate his friend on his success.

Lucas responded in kind when E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial broke box office records in 1982.

Happy Star Wars Day everybody!