Melissa mathison

The screenwriter behind Steven Spielberg's blockbuster hit E.T. The Extraterrestrial died today after succumbing to a long illness.

Ms. Mathison, who shared a screenplay credit on “The Black Stallion” (1979), met Steven Spielberg, the director of “E.T.,” in Tunisia, where he started to persuade her to write the script.

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Picture of Harrison Ford and Melissa Mathison attend 35th Annual Writers Guild of America Awards on April 7 1983 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills California. WireImage

Mathsion, who was married to Harrison Ford from 1983 to 2004 and wrote the screenplay for E.T., passed away on Wednesday in Los Angeles.

The writer also penned the screenplays for "The Black Stallion," "Kundun" and other films.

A behind-the-scene look at the life of Melissa Mathison.

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The screenwriter’s instinctive sympathy for childhood and a shrewd grasp of dialogue brought a compelling authenticity to her scripts, most memorably for ET: The Extra-Terrestrial

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