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Screenwriter William H. Wisher Jr. has died at the age of 71. The Wisher family confirmed the news, saying he “passed away peacefully at home.”
Wisher Jr. got his big break in his late 20s when he helped filmmaker James Cameron develop the concept of “The Terminator,” with the pair exchanging ideas and working on the script together for scenes – notably those involving Sarah Connor and the police department.
On “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” he was upgraded to a full co-writer credit alongside Cameron, with the pair working on the script together. Eagle eyed fans can spot him making onscreen cameos in both of Cameron’s “Terminator” films and “The Abyss”.
In 1995 he was also one of the core writers on the “Judge Dredd” film – co-writing the story with current Warners boss Michael De Luca and then co-writing the screenplay with “Street Fighter” writer/director Steven E. de Souza.
He was an uncredited script doctor on both John McTiernan’s “Die Hard with a Vengeance” in 1995 and Len Wiseman’s “Live Free or Die Hard” in 2007, scoring an executive producer credit for the latter.
He re-teamed with McTiernan for “The 13th Warrior,” co-writing the 1999 film adaptation of Michael Crichton’s “Eaters of the Dead” novel. He and author Caleb Carr co-wrote Paul Schrader’s “Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist” before that project was retrofitted into Renny Harlin’s “Exorcist: The Beginning”.
Other uncredited script doctoring he did included films like “Broken Arrow ,” “Eraser,” “Mercury Rising,” “Judgment Night,” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street 5”.
In a statement to Deadline, his family says: “While the world celebrates the unforgettable films he helped create, we will remember him for his kindness, his humor, his brilliant imagination, and the love he gave so freely to his family and friends.”
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