Celebrated screenwriter and producer Melissa Mathison passed away at the age of 65 on Wednesday in Los Angeles after battling an illness. 

Mathison was most well known for penning the script to E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and worked as associate producer on the movie alongside Spielberg. 

The two had recently began working together again on another project, an adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic The BFG, which is in post-production and is expected to be released in 2016. 

Mathison also wrote the script for Black Stallion, as well as Martin Scorsese's Kundun, and was married to Harrison Ford until 2004, with whom she had two children.  

Via Variety