Melissa Mathison

A brilliant and passionate screenwriter, Melissa Mathison crafts iconic stories that capture the wonder of childhood and the longing for freedom—while fighting for justice both on and off the screen.

Born

June 3, 1950

Died

Nov 4, 2015

From

Los Angeles, California, USA·Los Angeles, California, USA

Also:
Writer
Producer

Credits on file

Decades active

Awards

In short · Wrote for five decades — 13 credits.

Remembered for

Ranked by community engagement + sustained interest across this person's credits in our database.

Biography

Melissa Marie Mathison (June 3, 1950 – November 4, 2015) was an American screenwriter and activist who supported the Tibetan independence movement. She is best known for writing the screenplays for *The Black Stallion* (1979) and *E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial* (1982), for which she received the Saturn Award for Best Writing and an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Mathison later adapted Lynne Reid Banks's 1980 children's novel *The Indian in the Cupboard* into a 1995 film of the same name, and wrote *Kundun* (1997), a biographical drama about the Dalai Lama. Her final film credit was *The BFG* (2016), her third collaboration with director Steven Spielberg.

Filmography · 9 of 9

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