SEEKING DIVORCE. George Lucas, 39, movie mogul who is the Force behind Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and the new supergrossing ($100 million in the first three weeks) Return of the Jedi; and Marcia Lucas, 38, film editor (Taxi Driver, American Graffiti) who won an Academy Award for her work on Star Wars and also cut parts of Jedi; after 14 years of marriage, one adopted daughter, Amanda, 2, whose custody they will share; in San Anselmo, Calif.

DIED. Franc,oise de Langlade de la Renta, 62, French-born editor and wife of Fashion Designer Oscar de la Renta, whose shrewdness and flair as a hostess propelled the couple to social pre-eminence among New York City's accomplished and powerful; of cancer; in New York City. Editor in chief of French Vogue in the 1960s, she met De la Renta in Paris and brought her elegance and experience to Vogue in New York, becoming an arbiter of taste and fashion among a wide circle of friends. Her lavishly decorated homes in Manhattan and Connecticut influenced interior decorating trends, and she most recently served as editor at large for the revamped House and Garden.

DIED. Peter Mennin, 60, American composer and educator who for the past 21 years was president of the Juilliard School in New York City, the world's only conservatory of all the performing arts; after a long illness; in New York City. By the time he was 30, Mennin had written nine symphonies, his favorite musical form, and won major prizes and commissions for his harmonically conservative, cohesive and sonorous works. Appointed to head Juilliard in 1962, he especially stressed performance training: under his aegis, Juilliard students staged nearly 400 music, dance, opera and theater events every season.

DIED. Oren Ritter Lewis, 80, outspoken, activist federal district judge whose Alexandria, Va., courtroom was always good theater and whose opinions were often controversial; of a heart attack; in Arlington, Va. Appointed to the federal bench by President Eisenhower in 1960, he regularly cut short questioning he found irrelevant, put questions himself, and pushed both sides with his familiar exhortation "Get on with it!" He rendered important school desegregation decisions; he consistently opposed 1960s peacenik protesters, saying, "I never let a deserter try the Viet Nam War"; and he ruled in 1978 that ex-CIA Agent Frank Snepp had violated a contractual pledge of secrecy by publishing a critical account of the 1975 fall of Saigon, a ruling upheld by the Supreme Court in 1980. In recent years, appellate judges had begun to overturn his rulings for "glaring errors" and "predetermining the outcome" of cases.

DIED. Norma Shearer, 80, regal Hollywood star of the 1920s and '30s whose hard work, determination and matter-of-fact charm, along with her marriage to legendary MGM Production Chief Irving Thalberg, more than compensated for possible deficiencies of beauty or talent and made her one of the glamour era's most popular and successful actresses; of bronchial pneumonia; in Woodland Hills, Calif. Born in Canada, she broke into silent films in New York City, then was noticed in a small film role by Thalberg, who began to guide every step of her career. Under his supervision (which included deft camera work to hide a cast in her eye) she portrayed a series of slightly risque heroines in films like The Divorcee (1930), for which she won an Academy Award. After that came such sentimental romances and costume epics as Smilin' Through (1932) and Romeo and Juliet, which was completed just before Thalberg's death in 1936. After she turned down two roles that proved to be glittering showcases--Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind and the title character in Mrs. Miniver--her career faded; in 1942 she married Ski Instructor Martin Arrouge and retired for good. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.