Melissa Mathison
Melissa Mathison | |
|---|---|
 Mathison in 2015 | |
| Born | Melissa Marie Mathison June 3, 1950 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Died | November 4, 2015 (aged 65) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Education | University of California, Berkeley |
| Occupation | Screenwriter |
| Years active | 1979–2015 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Melissa Marie Mathison (June 3, 1950 – November 4, 2015) was an American film and television screenwriter and an activist for the Tibetan independence movement. She wrote the screenplays for the films The Black Stallion (1979) and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), the latter of which earned her the Saturn Award for Best Writing and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Mathison later wrote The Indian in the Cupboard (1995), based on Lynne Reid Banks's 1980 children's novel of the same name, and Kundun (1997), a biographical-drama film about the Dalai Lama. Her final film credit was The BFG (2016), which marked her third collaboration with film director Steven Spielberg.