Phil Lucas (1942 – February 4, 2007) was an American filmmaker of mostly Native American themes. He was an actor, writer, producer, director and editor for more than 100 films/documentaries or television programs starting as early as 1979 when he wrote/co-produced and co-directed ''Images of Indians'' for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

- a five-part series exploring the problem of Indian stereotypes as portrayed and perpetuated by

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Westerns The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated wit ...

Early life

Born in 1942 in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

, United States to the

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (Choctaw language, Choctaw: ''Chahta Okla'') is a Indian reservation, Native American reservation occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States. At roughly , it is the second-largest reservation ...

, in his early twenties Lucas was a musician in New York but giving up alcohol drove him to leave for

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where he took up photography and worked for advertising agencies. In the early- to mid-1960s Lucas became a member of the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...

and contributed songs such as ''Mount Your Steeds, O Heroes of God!'' and ''World Citizen'', among other songs on an LP record re-released as a CD ''Fire & Snow''. He also spoke at least one Baháʼí Conference (see links below). Lucas returned to American West and took up filmmaking after surviving the 1972 earthquake in

Managua Managua () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and one of the List of largest cities in Central America, largest cities in Central America. Located on the shores of Lake Managua, the city had an estimated population of 1, ...

, Nicaragua.

Awards

Acclaimed as the "foremost (Native American) film documentarian" by Hanay Geiogamah, a professor of theater and American Indian studies at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

, Lucas won some 18 awards or nominations from 1980 to 2003. * 1994 '' The Native Americans'',

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

, Television Series * 1999 '' Allan Houser/Haozous: The Lifetime Works of an American Master'' ** Best Documentary, Santa Fe Film Festival, Santa Fe, NM. ** Taos Mountain Award, Taos Talking Pictures Film Festival, Taos, NM. ** Official Selection, Native Forum,

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. * 2002 ''Restoring the Sacred Circle'' won the Best Public Service Award at American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco. As recently as 2003 Lucas won the CINE Eagle Award for ''Vis à Vis: Native Tongues''.

Films/television

Lucas worked on popular media as well as covering issues inside the Native American community. In 1979 he helped complete a set of documentaries covering Portrayal of Native Americans in film called "Images of Indians" with Robert Hagoplan. "Images of Indians" is a five-part series on the Indian stereotype portrayed in movies and questions the impact of Hollywood image on Indians' own self-image. In particular, Lucas and Hagoplan made the first of the series - "The Great Movie Massacre" - about the myth of the "savage Indian" vs

Buffalo Bill William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), better known as Buffalo Bill, was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. One of the most famous figures of the American Old West, Cody started his legend at the young age ...

and similar stories. In 1987 he directed ''Honor of All'' about an Alkali Lake band of Indians in British Columbia who overcame decades of alcohol abuse which helped bring a national awareness of the problem of alcoholism among Indians. He used "interviews and dramatic reenactments from the 1986 two-tape documentary to create the 1992 film ''The Honour of All.'' "It began with their seven-year-old daughter telling them she didn't want to live with them anymore. Using interviews and dramatic reenactments, this 1986 two-tape documentary conveys the story of alcoholic Phyllis Chelsea and her husband Andy Chelsea, who stopped drinking and then led the Alkali Lake Indian Band on a years-long, but ultimately successful struggle out of alcoholism that had been devastating the community of the Shuswap Reserve in British Columbia." Lucas played characters and served as a technical advisor on cultural content in popular TV series ''

Northern Exposure ''Northern Exposure'' is an American comedy-drama television series about the eccentric residents in the fictitious town of Cicely, Alaska, that originally aired on CBS from July 12, 1990, to July 26, 1995, with a total of 110 episodes. It rec ...

'' (1990–1991) and ''

MacGyver Angus "Mac" MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series ''MacGyver''. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the MacGyver (1985 TV series), 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in Mac ...

'', as well as producing/writing/directing/editing many movies and documentaries. Lucas co-directed the 1993

American Indian Dance Theatre American Indian Dance Theatre is a professional performing arts company presenting the dances and songs of Native Americans in the United States and the First Nations of Canada. History The group was founded in 1987 with Hanay Geiogamah as directo ...

for PBS television series

Great Performances ''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is produced by the PBS member statio ...

/Dance in America. Also in 1993,

Pierce Brosnan Pierce Brendan Brosnan (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He was the fifth actor to play the fictional secret agent Portrayal of James Bond in film, James Bond in the List of James Bond films, James Bond film series, starri ...

starred in The Broken Chain for TV and Lucas played a Mohawk character in a story about Iroquois' in the midst of the Revolutionary War. Again in 1993 Lucas produced, directed and wrote ''Healing the Nation'' a documentary on efforts of Nuu Chan-NuIth Nation on

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...

to break the cycle of sexual abuse in their community. In 2003 in ''Vis à Vis: Native Tongues'' Lucas brought together an

Australian Aboriginal Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

artist and an American Indian performance artist. Married for over 25 yrs to Nancy Gross of Bellevue who, with Phil, produced 4 children: Amy, Jason, Jessy, and Sara. Lucas has one son from a previous marriage: Josh Lucas.Nancy Chandler née Gross.

Later life

Lucas eventually moved to

Issaquah, Washington Issaquah ( ) is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 40,051 at the 2020 census. Located in a valley and bisected by Interstate 90, the city is bordered by the Sammamish Plateau to the north and the " Issaquah ...

, and taught film at Bellevue Community College in

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for the last eight years of his life. He began an American Indian Film Festival there in 2003. He died in

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. Bellevue or Belle Vue may refer to: Places Australia * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales Canada * Bellevue, Alberta * Bellevue, Newfoundlan ...

, Washington, and is survived by his fourth wife, Mary Lou, and five children.

References

External links