Melissa Mathison was the screenwriter behind E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, one of the most beloved family films of all time. She wrote only a few movies in almost four decades, but each one showed the same gift: she saw the world through a child’s eyes without ever writing down to her audience. This is the story of the woman behind the alien who wanted to phone home.
Biography Table
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Melissa Marie Mathison |
| Date of Birth | 3 June 1950 |
| Place of Birth | Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Date of Death | 4 November 2015 |
| Age | 65 (at the time of death) |
| Nationality | American |
| Zodiac Sign | Gemini |
| Profession/Occupation | Screenwriter, Producer |
| Years Active | 1974–2015 |
| Education | University of California, Berkeley (Political Science, did not graduate) |
| Genre/Field | Family films, drama, fantasy |
| Spouse/Partner | Harrison Ford (m. 1983; div. 2004) |
| Children | Malcolm Carswell Ford, Georgia Ford |
| Parents | Richard Mathison, Margaret Jean Mathison (née Kieffer) |
| Siblings | Dirk Mathison, Melinda Mathison Johnson, and others |
| Notable Works | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, The Black Stallion, Kundun, The BFG |
| Awards/Honors | Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay (1983) |
Who Was Melissa Mathison?
Melissa Mathison was an American screenwriter best known for writing E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). The script earned her a nomination for Best Original Screenplay at the 1983 Academy Awards. It remains her defining work and one of the greatest films ever made.
Her career was small in volume but huge in impact. Over 37 years, she wrote just seven films, including The Black Stallion, The Indian in the Cupboard, Kundun and The BFG. Each project centred on loneliness, home and the quiet strength of outsiders.
Outside the industry, many people knew her as Harrison Ford’s ex-wife. That label never told the full story. She was a thoughtful, private writer who preferred raising her children and championing Tibetan freedom over chasing Hollywood fame.
Melissa Mathison’s Death and Cause of Death
Melissa Mathison died on Wednesday, 4 November 2015, in Los Angeles. She was 65 years old. Her death came after a long illness that she had kept largely private from the public and the press.
The cause of death was neuroendocrine cancer. Her brother, Dirk Mathison, confirmed the news to Entertainment Weekly, which first reported it. Her sister, Melinda Mathison Johnson, also spoke about her battle with cancer in the days that followed.
The news surprised many fans because she had stayed active until the end. She had recently finished work on The BFG, which reached cinemas after her passing. For a writer so private about her illness, that final film became a quiet goodbye.
Early Life and Family Background
Melissa Marie Mathison was born on 3 June 1950 in Los Angeles. She grew up as one of five children in a modest LA family with strong ties to journalism and entertainment. Writing and storytelling were part of daily life at home.
Her father, Richard Mathison, was a journalist who served as Newsweek’s Los Angeles bureau chief. He also worked as a religion editor and wrote for Fortnight magazine. Through his work, the family moved among writers, artistic friends and Hollywood figures, including a reported early connection to Clark Gable.
Her mother, Margaret Jean (née Kieffer), was a food editor. She later ran Custom Cookery, a gourmet convenience-meal business. Her parents valued independence and creativity, and they treated their children as equals. The household was lively, curious and full of ideas.
Her parents later divorced, a detail that matters. The emotional pain of a broken family would later surface in E.T., where Elliott’s absent father shapes the whole story. Like many great writers, she drew on her own childhood to give her work its emotional truth.
Education and the Coppola Connection
Mathison studied political science at the University of California, Berkeley. Politics interested her, but Hollywood soon pulled her in a different direction. She took leave from her studies and never returned to finish her degree.
Her entry into the film world came through a family friend: Francis Ford Coppola. As a teenager, she had babysat Coppola’s children, Roman and Sofia. That trust grew into a working relationship once she was old enough to join his productions.
She worked as an assistant on The Godfather Part II (1974) and earned a location assistant credit. Later, she served as Coppola’s executive assistant during the long production of Apocalypse Now (1979). These roles taught her how movies are actually made, from the ground up.
Eleanor Coppola once described her as having an inquiring mind. Francis Ford Coppola noticed her talent and encouraged her to write. That push turned a shy assistant into a working screenwriter within a few short years.
The Black Stallion (1979): Her Writing Debut
The Black Stallion was Melissa Mathison’s first screenwriting credit. She co-wrote the adaptation of Walter Farley’s classic novel about a lonely boy and a wild horse stranded together on a desert island after a shipwreck.
The film was produced through Coppola’s American Zoetrope and directed by Carroll Ballard. Mickey Rooney co-starred and earned an Oscar nomination. The film received two Oscar nominations overall and was warmly received as a heartfelt family film.
What stood out was her ability to express emotion visually. Long stretches of the film have almost no dialogue. The bond between boy and horse is told through looks, gestures and silence. It is a hard skill, and she made it look easy.
The movie later inspired a sequel and a TV series. More importantly, it caught Spielberg’s eye. That single debut became her Hollywood breakthrough and set the stage for the most famous script of her career.
How E.T. Came About
The story of E.T. began on a film set in Tunisia in 1981. Mathison was there while dating Harrison Ford, who was filming Raiders of the Lost Ark. Spielberg had an idea about a lonely boy and an alien, and he wanted her to write it.
At first, she kept refusing. She told him she was not a good screenwriter. Spielberg did not give up. Hollywood lore says he persuaded her during a 207-mile desert drive across the Sahara, from Nefta toward Sousse, with Ford still in his Indiana Jones costume.
During that long car ride, Spielberg pitched his concept. He spoke about an imaginary alien friend he had dreamed of after his parents’ divorce. The idea touched her personally. She later admitted she cried, and by the end of the ride, she agreed to write it.
That rapport between writer and director became the heart of the film. Spielberg brought the vision. Mathison brought the emotional detail. Together they turned a simple outline into a story about friendship, loss and finding home.
Writing the E.T. Script
Mathison wrote the first draft of E.T. in about eight weeks, starting around October 1980 by many accounts. She worked from a quiet beach apartment in Marina del Rey and also wrote at a Hollywood office. The result was a 107-page first draft.
Her process was calm and meditative. She would brainstorm ideas with Spielberg, sometimes using a tape recorder to capture their talks. She liked to work alone afterwards, shaping scenes slowly. Spielberg reviewed pages while he was editing Raiders.
When Spielberg read the draft, he reportedly finished it in an hour. He called it one of the best first drafts he had ever seen and said it was ready to shoot. Few screenplays in Hollywood arrive in such a finished state.
Kathleen Kennedy, who served as associate producer, later shared memories of this period. The script carried quiet themes of resurrection and redemption, seen in E.T.’s death and return. From my own reading of the screenplay, its magic comes from restraint. It never explains too much.
E.T.’s Success and Oscar Nomination
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial became the highest-grossing film of its time, overtaking Star Wars. It earned about $435 million in the US during its original run and almost $700 million worldwide. Adjusted for inflation, its earnings are often estimated well above $1 billion.
Mathison received her first and only Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay at the 1983 Academy Awards. She lost to John Briley for Gandhi. She also received an associate producer credit and a share of the profits from what became an extremely profitable film.
Her success came with some frustration. People often labelled E.T. a children’s film. She saw it differently, as an adult story told from a child’s point of view. That balance is exactly why audiences of all ages still connect with it.
The film stayed culturally relevant for decades. It held its box office record until Spielberg’s own Jurassic Park. Today it is still the work most people link with her name, and many critics call E.T. an eternal child of cinema.
Melissa Mathison’s Filmography
Melissa Mathison wrote only a handful of films across her career. Each one was carefully chosen. The table below shows her major screenwriting credits.
| Year | Title | Role / Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | The Black Stallion | Co-writer; directed by Carroll Ballard |
| 1982 | The Escape Artist | Co-writer; directed by cinematographer Caleb Deschanel |
| 1982 | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | Writer, associate producer; Oscar nomination |
| 1983 | Twilight Zone: The Movie | Wrote the “Kick the Can” segment (credited under a pseudonym) |
| 1991 | Son of the Morning Star | TV Western miniseries |
| 1995 | The Indian in the Cupboard | Writer; directed by Frank Oz, based on Lynne Reid Banks’ book |
| 1997 | Kundun | Writer, directed by Martin Scorsese |
| 2016 | The BFG | Writer; released after her death |
The Escape Artist was a quiet film about a young magician. The “Kick the Can” segment in Twilight Zone: The Movie was produced alongside Spielberg’s Amblin circle, with Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy close by.
The Indian in the Cupboard returned her to children’s books. Directed by Frank Oz, it told the story of a boy whose toy comes to life. Once again, she explored responsibility, friendship and the weight of caring for someone fragile.
Kundun, the Dalai Lama and Tibet Activism
Kundun (1997) was her most personal project. Directed by Martin Scorsese, it tells the life story of the 14th Dalai Lama, from his discovery as a child to his escape from Tibet. Many in Hollywood called it the most unlikely project of her career.
She developed the script with direct access to the Dalai Lama. She met him around 1992 and conducted about 15 interviews with him. That direct friendship gave the film its spiritual depth and a sense of honesty that few biopics reach.
The theme suited her perfectly. Kundun is about a boy separated from his home and family. It echoes E.T. and The Black Stallion, only this time the story is real. Producer Barbara De Fina, Scorsese’s then-wife, helped bring it to the screen.
Her interest went far beyond film. She became a Tibetan freedom activist and served as a board member of the International Campaign for Tibet. Buddhism and Tibetan culture remained important to her for the rest of her life.
The BFG: Her Final Screenplay
The BFG was Melissa Mathison’s last work and her final screenplay. It adapted Roald Dahl’s beloved book about a kind giant and a lonely orphan. It was also her first screenplay in nearly two decades.
The project reunited her with Spielberg more than 30 years after E.T. It marked their third collaboration and their second full-length feature together. Mark Rylance played the giant, an outcast among cruel giants, which suited her favourite theme perfectly.
She was on set every day as Spielberg’s partner during filming. Sadly, she died during post-production. The film was released by Disney and DreamWorks on 1 July 2016, and she received a posthumous credit along with a dedication.
For fans, the film feels like a bookend. Her career started and ended with stories of children who find unlikely friends. In my view, watching The BFG after knowing her history makes the gentle giant feel like her own farewell.
Marriage to Harrison Ford and Children
Melissa Mathison met Harrison Ford in 1976 during work connected to Apocalypse Now. They married in 1983, when Ford was already a major star after Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Their marriage lasted about two decades.
The couple had two children: son Malcolm Carswell Ford, born in 1987, and daughter Georgia Ford, born in 1990. Malcolm later became a musician. Raising a family became her main focus, which is a big reason she wrote fewer scripts from the mid-1980s.
They spent much time at their Wyoming ranch, far from Hollywood. Over time, her own identity was often eclipsed by Ford’s fame. Many people overlooked that she was an Oscar-nominated writer in her own right.
After several separations, the couple separated for good in 2001. She filed for divorce, and it was finalised in 2004. Ford later married Calista Flockhart. Mathison never remarried. She was survived by her two children, her siblings and many friends.
The Divorce Settlement
The Mathison–Ford divorce is often named among the most expensive in Hollywood history. Reports placed her settlement at about $90 million, including a share of Ford’s future earnings from films made during their marriage.
A key reason for the large figure was simple. The couple had no prenup. Under California law, property earned during the marriage is generally split equally. Since Ford earned much of his fortune during those two decades, the settlement grew huge.
She never spoke much about the money in public. True to her nature, she stayed quiet and focused on her children, her writing and her activism. The settlement gave her the freedom to pick projects on her own terms.
She Introduced Spielberg to Tintin
One little-known fact is that Mathison introduced Steven Spielberg to The Adventures of Tintin. She loved the Belgian comic series and believed it fitted his storytelling style. That suggestion stayed with him for years.
Spielberg eventually directed The Adventures of Tintin in 2011. It shows how much influence she had behind the scenes, even outside her own scripts. Her taste and judgement helped shape the creative path of one of cinema’s biggest directors.
Story Consultant on Ponyo
Mathison also worked as a story consultant on the English-language version of Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo. The film follows a young goldfish who longs to become human, a story full of childhood wonder.
Her role was to help the story flow naturally for English-speaking audiences while keeping Miyazaki’s spirit intact. Her skill with children’s voices and simple emotion made her a natural fit. It is a small credit, but it shows how widely respected she was.
Winter’s Tale: The Scorsese Project That Never Happened
In the late 1980s, Mathison worked on adapting Mark Helprin’s novel Winter’s Tale for Martin Scorsese. The book is a sweeping fantasy set in old New York. Many believed the project could become a major film.
It never happened under her pen. The adaptation stalled and was shelved. Decades later, Akiva Goldsman adapted and directed the novel himself in 2014. Mathison’s version remains one of Hollywood’s interesting what-ifs.
Why She Wrote So Few Films
People often ask why such a gifted writer made so few films. The answer is simple: she chose family first. In an interview with Newsweek, she explained she did not want to miss her own children’s childhood.
There was also a creative reason. She was often offered little boy stories after E.T., and she did not want to repeat herself. Writing about children was her strength, but she only took projects that truly moved her.
This choice is rare in Hollywood, where success usually means more output. For Mathison, success meant time with Malcolm and Georgia, causes she believed in, and the occasional story worth telling. Her small filmography reflects careful choices, not lack of talent.
Her Writing Philosophy
Mathison believed good writing should support a director, not fight against their strengths. She told The New Yorker that she tried to give directors material that fitted their style. With Spielberg, that meant emotion, wonder and visual storytelling.
She also allowed space for the unexpected. On E.T., Spielberg let the child actors improvise, and she welcomed it. She believed real children often sound more truthful than anything an adult writer could invent for them.
Her dialogue was simple, never clever for its own sake. She trusted silence, glances and small moments. As someone who studies screenplays, I find her biggest lesson is respect. She never wrote down to children, and she never bored adults.
A Woman Behind One of the Greatest Films
It is easy to forget that a woman wrote E.T. In conversations about the greatest films ever made, her name is rarely mentioned, while the director gets most of the credit. That gap says a lot about authorship in Hollywood.
Her story is now part of wider discussions on gender equality in film. In the early 1980s, very few women were writing major studio hits. She did it quietly, without fanfare, and created one of cinema’s most profitable and emotional films.
Today, many writers and film historians point to her as proof that the heart of a classic often lies on the page. Recognising her work is not just fair. It gives a fuller picture of how E.T. became so loved.
Tributes After Her Death
After her death, tributes poured in from fans worldwide and from Hollywood’s biggest names. Steven Spielberg released a statement calling her a remarkable friend with a glowing heart. He said her heart burned bright and she would be deeply missed.
Kathleen Kennedy remembered her as intelligent, confident and soulful, with a deep love of life. Friends often mentioned that she read about 20 books a week, a sign of her endless curiosity.
Francis Ford Coppola, who gave her the first push into film, also paid tribute. Many spoke about her unpretentiousness. Despite her success, she never acted like a star. For those who knew her, that modesty was her most memorable trait.
FAQs
What Was Melissa Mathison’s Cause of Death?
Melissa Mathison died of neuroendocrine cancer on 4 November 2015 in Los Angeles. She was 65. She had fought the illness privately for some time before her passing.
Did Melissa Mathison Win an Oscar for E.T.?
No, she did not win. She was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 1983 Academy Awards but lost to Gandhi. It was the only Oscar nomination of her career.
How Many Children Did Melissa Mathison and Harrison Ford Have?
They had two children together. Their son Malcolm was born in 1987, and their daughter Georgia was born in 1990. Both were raised largely away from the Hollywood spotlight.
Why Did Melissa Mathison and Harrison Ford Divorce?
The couple went through several separations before splitting for good in 2001. Neither shared detailed reasons publicly. Their divorce was finalised in 2004 after about 20 years of marriage.
Was E.T. Based on a True Story?
E.T. was not a true story, but it was rooted in real feelings. Spielberg drew on an imaginary friend he pictured after his parents’ divorce. Mathison added her own family experiences to shape Elliott’s emotional journey.
What Was Melissa Mathison’s Last Movie?
Her last movie was The BFG (2016), adapted from Roald Dahl’s book and directed by Spielberg. She died during post-production, and the film was dedicated to her memory.
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