Editing Melissa Mathison (section)

{{Short description|American screenwriter (1950–2015)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Melissa Mathison
| image       = Melissa_Mathison.jpg
| alt         =
| caption     = Mathison in 2015
| birthname   = Melissa Marie Mathison<ref>{{cite web|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/person/melissa-mathison/filmography.html|title=Melissa Mathison|publisher=Movies.yahoo.com|date=April 20, 2011|access-date=November 4, 2015}}</ref>
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1950|06|03}}
| birth_place = [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], U.S.
| death_date  = {{death date and age|2015|11|04|1950|06|03}}
| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| alma_mater  = [[University of California, Berkeley]]
| occupation  = Screenwriter
| yearsactive = 1979–2015
| spouse      = {{marriage|[[Harrison Ford]]|1983|2004|end=div.}}
| children    = 2
| website     =
}}
'''Melissa Marie Mathison''' (June 3, 1950 – November 4, 2015) was an American [[film]] and [[television]] [[screenwriter]] and an activist for the [[Tibetan independence movement]]. She was best known for writing the [[screenplay]]s for the films ''[[The Black Stallion (film)|The Black Stallion]]'' (1979) and ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial]]'' (1982), the latter of which earned her the [[Saturn Award for Best Writing]] and a nomination for the [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0558953/|title = Melissa Mathison| website=[[IMDb]] }}</ref>

Mathison later wrote ''[[The Indian in the Cupboard (film)|The Indian in the Cupboard]]'' (1995), based on [[Lynne Reid Banks]]'s [[The Indian in the Cupboard|1980 children's novel of the same name]], and ''[[Kundun]]'' (1997), a [[biographical film|biographical]]-[[Drama (film and television)|drama film]] about the [[14th Dalai Lama|Dalai Lama]]. Her final film credit was ''[[The BFG (2016 film)|The BFG]]'' (2016), which marked her third collaboration with film director [[Steven Spielberg]].