Leigh Douglass Brackett (7 December 1915 - 18 March 1978) was an American writer and screenwriter, known as the Queen of Space Opera, in the cinema, is known for the screenplays of films like The Big Sleep (1946), Rio Bravo (1959) and The Long Goodbye (1973). She also worked on an initial draft of The Empire Strikes Back (1980). She was married to also writer Edmond Hamilton.