Who played the title character in George Lucas's film THX 1138?

Robert Duvall played the title character in George Lucas’s film THX 1138.

Released in 1971, THX 1138 was Lucas’s first feature film as a director. Duvall plays THX 1138, a worker in a bleak dystopian society where citizens are controlled through surveillance, mandatory drugs, and strict social rules. The character’s numerical name reflects the film’s dehumanized world, where people are identified by designations rather than ordinary names.

The feature grew out of Lucas’s 1967 USC student film Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB. Francis Ford Coppola produced the feature through American Zoetrope, while Walter Murch helped Lucas develop the screenplay. Donald Pleasence, often confused with Duvall in this film, plays SEN 5241, a fellow citizen whose actions help set the story in motion.

THX 1138 was not a major commercial success on release, but it later became a cult science-fiction film. Lucas revisited it in a 2004 director’s cut, adding digital effects while retaining Duvall’s central performance.