Richard Marquand was a Welsh-born film and television director, best known for directing Return of the Jedi (1983), the concluding film of the original Star Wars trilogy. He was born on 22 September 1937 in Llanishen, Cardiff, the son of Hilary Marquand, a Labour Member of Parliament and government minister who served as Minister of Pensions and later Minister of Health, and Rachel Marquand (née Rees). His elder brother, David Marquand, also became a Labour MP and later a noted political historian and academic.
Marquand was educated at Emanuel School in London, at the University of Aix in Aix-en-Provence, France, and at King’s College, Cambridge. He began his career as a newscaster in Hong Kong before joining the BBC in 1962 as a producer, moving into directing television documentaries by the late 1960s. He served as associate director on the landmark 1970 BBC television production of Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II, starring Ian McKellen — the production’s principal director was Toby Robertson.
Marquand’s feature-film career included the 1981 Second World War thriller Eye of the Needle, whose success led producer George Lucas to hire him to direct Return of the Jedi (1983). His work on the film earned a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1984. He went on to direct the thriller Jagged Edge (1985) and the romantic drama Until September (1984).
Marquand suffered a stroke at his home in Penshurst, Kent, on 30 August 1987, and was taken to the Kent and Sussex Hospital in Royal Tunbridge Wells, where he died five days later, on 4 September 1987, at the age of 49. His final film, Hearts of Fire, starring Bob Dylan, was released after his death.