ET Screenwriter Dies Aged 65

On November 4, 2015, Melissa Mathison, 65, succumbed to neuroendocrine cancer.

Screenwriter Melissa Mathison and director Steven Spielberg at the 20th-anniversary premiere of “E.T.” in 2002.

She continued to work as an activist for the cause of a free Tibet.

Mathison was married to actor Harrison Ford from 1983 to 2004 – the pair met on the set of Apocalypse Now – and had two children with the Star Wars star. She and Ford had two children, Georgia and Malcolm. Mathison laid the foundation for one of the greatest movies ever made and directly contributed to films from master directors. The choices that she made were so interesting and unusual, and it was all about family.

Mathison had recently teamed up with Spielberg again for “The BFG”, which is in post-production and scheduled to hit movie theaters in July 2016, People magazine reported. Released in 1982, it became the biggest box office hit of its time, and netted Mathison an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Their marriage was finally legally dissolved three years later and was branded the third most costly celebrity divorce in history, according to E!

Mathison’s education included attending the University of California, Berkeley. However, her greatest success was wright around the corner. In college, she later said, she thought the story of the exiled Dalai Lama would make a great movie. She is pictured with her then-husband Harrison Ford. The film is set to be released next year. Her brother Dirk confirmed that she passed from a long illness.