Melissa Mathison was a screenwriter best known for her Oscar-nominated screenplay for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. She also served as an associate producer on the film.
The 1982 classic was directed by Steven Spielberg and famously featured a young Drew Barrymore in the role of Gertie. The film followed the story of a friendly alien stranded on Earth and his journey home with the help of his friend, 10-year-old Elliot (Henry Thomas).
Mathison also penned the 1991 television movie Son of the Morning Star, the true story about George Armstrong Custer, Crazy Horse and the events leading up to the battle of Little Bighorn. The movie starred Gary Cole and Rosanna Arquette and was nominated for five Emmy Awards, winning four.
Her other feature film credits included 1979’s The Black Stallion, The Escape Artist, 1983’s Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Indian in the Cupboard and Martin Scorsese’s Kundun, for which she also served as a co-producer. She most recently teamed up with Spielberg again on the upcoming film The BFG, starring Rebecca Hall and Mark Rylance, based on the novel by Roald Dahl.
Melissa Mathison was a screenwriter best known for her Oscar-nominated screenplay for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. She also served as an associate producer on the film.
The 1982 classic was directed by Steven Spielberg and famously featured a young Drew Barrymore in the role of Gertie. The film followed the story of a friendly alien stranded on Earth and his journey home with the help of his friend, 10-year-old Elliot (Henry Thomas).
Mathison also penned the 1991 television movie Son of the Morning Star, the true story about George Armstrong Custer, Crazy Horse and the events leading up to the battle of Little Bighorn. The movie starred Gary Cole and Rosanna Arquette and was nominated for five Emmy Awards, winning four.
Her other feature film credits included 1979’s The Black Stallion, The Escape Artist, 1983’s Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Indian in the Cupboard and Martin Scorsese’s Kundun, for which she also served as a co-producer. She most recently teamed up with Spielberg again on the upcoming film The BFG, starring Rebecca Hall and Mark Rylance, based on the novel by Roald Dahl.
Mathison was married to actor Harrison Ford from 1983 to 2004. They met while she was an executive assistant on 1979’s Apocalypse Now. Her first credit came five years earlier, when she worked as a location assistant for The Godfather: Part II.
She died November 4, 2015, in Los Angeles, California. She was 65.
The Television Academy database lists prime-time Emmy information. Click here to learn more