Melissa Marie Mathison was born on 3rd June 1950, in Los Angeles, California USA, and was a film and TV screenwriter, best known for scripting such films as “The Black Stallion” (1979), and “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) among many others. Her career started in 1979 and ended with her death in 2015.
Have you ever wondered how rich Melissa Mathison was, at the time of her death? According to authoritative sources, Melissa`s net worth was as high as $22 million, earned through her successful career in the entertainment industry.
Melissa Mathison Net Worth $22 Million
Melissa was one of five siblings born to Richard Randolph Mathison and his wife Margaret Jean, nee Kieffer; her father worked as a journalist for Newsweek as its bureau chef, while her mother was a food writer and convenience-foods entrepreneur. She attended Providence High School and matriculated in 1968, then enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, but dropped out of college when film director Francis Ford Copola invited her to help him out with the script for The Godfather Part II. Her family was quite friendly with the Copolas, which turned out to be fruitful for Melissa. Soon after, she was encouraged by Francis to write a screenplay for “The Black Stallion”, based on the novel of the same name by Walter Farley. This brought Steven Spielberg to the picture, as the film became quite successful, as it was nominated for two Academy Awards. Building up friendship with Spielberg, the two started working on “E.T. the Extra Terrestrial”, and the film came out in 1982, garnering four Oscars and numerous other prestigious nominations and awards. The success of the film certainly increased Melissa`s net worth to a large degree.
Her next venture was the crime drama “The Escape Artist”, which was released the same year, directed by Caleb Deshanel and starring Raul Julia and Desi Arnaz. In 1995 Melissa collaborated with film director Frank Oz on the film “The Indian in the Cupboard”, but several years before she had traveled to Tibet and met with the Dalai Lama to write a screenplay for a biographical film about the life of the spiritual leader of Tibet, entitled “Kundun”, which came out in 1997, crediting Martin Scorsese as its director. The film turned out to be yet another success for Melissa, as it was nominated for four Oscars and won various awards. Her net worth was rising.
After “Kundun” came out, Melissa focused on other activities, including fighting for Tibetan freedom, while she was also on the board of the International Campaign for Tibet. Before her death, she collaborated once again with the legendary director, Steven Spielberg on the film “BFG”, which came out several months after her death.
Melissa won several awards during her career, including a Saturn Award in the category Best Writing for the film “E.T. the Extra Terrestrial”, while she was also nominated for Academy and Golden Globe Awards for the same film.
Regarding her personal life, Melissa was married to actor Harrison Ford from 1983 until 2004 when they split up; the couple has two children together. Melissa passed away on 4th November 2015 after losing her battle with neuroendocrine cancer.
