Melissa Mathison facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Melissa Mathison
Mathison in 2015
Born	Melissa Marie Mathison (1950-06-03)June 3, 1950 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	November 4, 2015(2015-11-04) (aged 65) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Screenwriter
Years active	1979–2015
Spouse(s)	Harrison Ford ​ ​ (m. 1983; div. 2004)​
Children	2

Melissa Marie Mathison (born June 3, 1950 – died November 4, 2015) was an American screenwriter. She wrote stories for movies and TV shows. Melissa was also an activist who supported the Tibetan freedom movement.

She is most famous for writing the movie scripts for The Black Stallion (1979) and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). For E.T., she won an award called the Saturn Award for Best Writing. She was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, which is a very big honor in movies.

Later, Melissa wrote The Indian in the Cupboard (1995). This movie was based on a popular children's book. She also wrote Kundun (1997), which was a movie about the life of the Dalai Lama. Her last movie was The BFG (2016). She worked with the famous director Steven Spielberg on this movie, which was their third time working together.

Early Life and First Steps in Film

Melissa Mathison was born in Los Angeles, California, on June 3, 1950. She was one of five children. Her father, Richard Randolph Mathison, worked for Newsweek magazine. Her mother, Margaret Jean Mathison, wrote about food.

After finishing high school in 1968, Melissa went to the University of California, Berkeley. Her family knew the famous director Francis Ford Coppola. Melissa even babysat his children! Coppola offered her a job as his assistant for the movie The Godfather Part II (1974). She left college to take this amazing opportunity.

With encouragement from Francis Ford Coppola, Melissa wrote her first movie script. It was for The Black Stallion, based on a book. This script caught the attention of another famous director, Steven Spielberg.

Writing for the Big Screen

Melissa Mathison wrote the script for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) with Steven Spielberg. This movie was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The idea for the script came from a story that Spielberg gave to Melissa. Spielberg says that the famous line "E.T. phone home" was Melissa's idea.

She worked with Spielberg again on her last movie, The BFG (2016). This movie was released after she passed away and was dedicated to her memory. Melissa also wrote scripts for The Escape Artist (1982) and The Indian in the Cupboard (1995).

Working for Tibet

Melissa Mathison met the Dalai Lama in 1990. She was writing the script for her movie Kundun (1997) at the time. They became good friends. Melissa continued to be an activist for Tibetan freedom. She was also on the board of the International Campaign for Tibet, an organization that works to support Tibet.

Her Family and Passing

From 1983 to 2004, Melissa Mathison was married to the actor Harrison Ford. They had two children together. Melissa passed away on November 4, 2015, in Los Angeles. She was 65 years old and died from a type of cancer called neuroendocrine cancer.

Movies Written by Melissa Mathison

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