Screenwriter William Wisher Jr., co-writer of Terminator 2 and a close collaborator with James Cameron, has died at 71.
William Wisher Jr., the screenwriter who helped James Cameron bring The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day to the screen, has died at 71. He passed away on July 14 at his home, in a report first shared by journalist David Poland and later confirmed by his brother, John Wisher. Across a career spanning more than three decades, Wisher built a reputation as one of Hollywood's most dependable action and science-fiction writers and script doctors, with credits including Judge Dredd, The 13th Warrior, and Live Free or Die Hard.
In a statement released after his death, Wisher's family remembered him for his kindness, humor, and imagination, saying he believed stories had the power to connect people across generations and that he gave his love freely to those close to him. Born on May 23, 1955, in Brea, California, Wisher started out as an actor before moving into screenwriting, the shift that would come to define his professional life.
His bond with Cameron ran deep. The two were childhood friends who grew up together in Brea, and their work on The Terminator began well before the film's 1984 release. Cameron brought Wisher in to help build the movie's world, and Wisher contributed additional dialogue, polished scenes, and later co-wrote the film's novelization with Randall Frakes. He even turned up on screen in a small part, playing a police officer dispatched by Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator early in the story.
Wisher's involvement grew considerably when Cameron returned for the sequel. On 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day, he earned a full "written by" credit alongside Cameron, cementing his place in one of the most influential science-fiction franchises ever made.
The original Terminator arrived as a low-budget thriller but proved a turning point, transforming Cameron from a promising genre director into one of Hollywood's most bankable filmmakers. Its mix of relentless action and grounded emotion, built in part on the mythology Wisher helped shape, became the template Cameron would carry through the rest of his career, and it remains the defining achievement of Wisher's own.
