Nora Ephron, 71, died on Tuesday at a hospital in New York. Ephron was a screenwriter and director. According to her family, Ephron died while she was undergoing treatment for acute myeloid leukemia. Ephron succeeded at many different things during her career including journalism, novelist, essayist, playwright and even being nominated for an Oscar.
As a screenwriter, Ephron wrote ‘When Harry Met Sally’ and ‘Sleepless in Seattle.’ Both of those movies presented Ephron with Oscar nominations. Ephron also received an Oscar nomination for ‘Silkwood,’ about Karen Silkwood, the anti-nuclear activist.
“An amazingly talented girl who was able to accomplish everything she set her mind to with great style and will be missed enormously,” actor Martin Landau said in a statement.
In 2010, Meryl Streep was nominated for an Oscar when she starred in the movie ‘Julie & Julia,’ which was written and directed by Ephron.
“What a loss. A magnificent spirit and voice. She changed romantic comedy forever,” actress Debra Messing said.
Ephron was a natural-born writer, born into a family of writers on May 19, 1941. Her parents wrote the screenplays ‘Desk Set,’ ‘Carousel’ and ‘There’s No Business Like Show Business.’ Ephron made her debut as a director in 1992 with the comedy, ‘This Is My Life.’ She co-wrote the story with her sister Delia. Ephron said the following about her parents in 2009:
“They were funny and they believed that everything was copy. They believed that anything in life could be turned into a story, which is really the first rule of humor. I don’t think you can get through almost anything without humor.”
Ephron divorced husband and investigative reporter Carl Bernstein and married screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi eight years later in 1987.
“I feel bad for the people who don’t at some point understand that there’s something funny in even the worst things that can happen to you,” Ephron said.
The mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, said the following about Ephron:
“The loss of Nora Ephron is a devastating one for New York City’s arts and cultural community,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “From her earliest days at New York City’s newspapers to her biggest Hollywood successes, Nora always loved a good New York story, and she could tell them like no one else.”
Ephron did not just write screenplays for movies. She also wrote essays. Some of her most well-known essays include “I Remember Nothing” and “Crazy Salad.” Ephron wrote the play ‘Imaginary Friends’ in 2002. Ephron once said that the best advice she was ever given is that ‘life is too short’ and that location means everything for a movie.