American novelist and screenwriter Leigh Brackett is best known for the screenplays she wrote in collaboration with director Howard Hawks. One of her best known Hawks' films is The Big Sleep (1946). Brackett also penned several westerns and other male-oriented action films. Her last screenplay was for The Empire Strikes Back (released in 1980, two years after her death). In addition to screenwriting, Brackett also wrote science fiction and mystery novels.