Biography for
Nora Ephron More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

19 May 1941, New York City, New York, USA

Date of Death

26 June 2012, New York, New York, USA (pneumonia brought on by acute myeloid leukemia)

Mini Biography

Nora Ephron was educated at Wellesley College, Massachusetts. She was an acclaimed essayist (Crazy Salad 1975), novelist (Heartburn 1983), and had written screenplays for several popular films, all featuring strong female characters, such as anti-nuclear activist Karen Silkwood (Silkwood (1983), co-written with Alice Arlen) and a mobster's feisty independent daughter Cookie Voltecki (Cookie (1989), also co-written with Arlen). Ephron's hard-headed sensibilities helped make Rob Reiner's When Harry Met Sally... (1989) a clear-eyed view of modern romance, and she earned an Oscar nomination for her original screenplay.

Ephron made her directorial debut with the comedy This Is My Life (1992), co-scripted by her sister Delia Ephron, which starred Julie Kavner as a single mother who struggles to establish herself as a stand-up comedienne. Ephron followed up by helming and co-writing Sleepless in Seattle (1993), a romantic comedy in which lovers Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are separated for most of the film. Less about love than about love in the movies, the film drew inspiration from the beloved shipboard romance An Affair to Remember (1957), starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.

Ephron was the daughter of stage and screen-writing team Henry Ephron and Phoebe Ephron, who used her infancy as the subject of their play "Three's a Family" and based their comedy Take Her, She's Mine (1963) on letters their daughter wrote them from college. Their screenplays include There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), Carousel (1956) and Desk Set (1957). Formerly married to novelist Dan Greenburg and investigative journalist Carl Bernstein, Ephron was wed to crime journalist and screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, at the time of her passing, who wrote such films as Goodfellas (1990).

IMDb Mini Biography By: Serg Pageen <akakii@chat.ru>

Spouse

Nicholas Pileggi	(28 March 1987 - 26 June 2012) (her death)
Carl Bernstein	(14 April 1976 - 1980) (divorced) 2 children
Dan Greenburg	(9 April 1967 - 1976) (divorced)

Trivia

Older sister of Delia Ephron, Hallie Ephron and Amy Ephron.

Daughter of Henry Ephron and Phoebe Ephron.

Sons: Jacob Bernstein and Max Bernstein.

Used to live in famous Manhattan apartment house on the West side called the Apthorp.

Went to Beverly Hills High School as did Angelina Jolie, Michael Klesic, Nicolas Cage, Lenny Kravitz, Gina Gershon, Richard Dreyfuss, Jonathan Silverman, and David Schwimmer.

In a 2005 interview with Tom Brokaw, she stated that even though then husband Carl Bernstein didn't make her privy to the identity of Watergate informant "Deep Throat," she figured it out from clues (including Bernstein's notes referencing the initials "M. F." -- allegedly for "my friend") and was willing to tell her guess to anyone who asked. Her guess was proved correct when on May 31, 2005, W. Mark Felt, former assistant director of the FBI during the Richard Nixon administration, was identified as Deep Throat.

Sister-in-law of Jerome Kass (husband of sister Delia).

Upon her death, it was revealed that Ephron had been diagnosed only a few years before with myelodysplastic syndrome, a pre-leukemic condition. It was a secret she shared with only a few close famly members and friends.

Aunt of Anna Harari, Maia Harari and Ethan Harari.

Ex-sister-in-law of Sasha Harari (husband of sister Amy).

She was cremated and her ashes scattered.

In her most recent book, "I Remember Nothing," she ends the collection of essays with two lists: What I Won't Miss, and What I Will Miss. After the lists come the acknowledgments, which ends with "and of course, my doctors."

Personal Quotes

Insane people are always sure that they are fine. It is only the sane people who are willing to admit that they are crazy.

[on success] Most of us live our lives devoid of cinematic moments.

One of the few advantages to not being beautiful is that one usually gets better-looking as one gets older; I am, in fact, at this very moment gaining my looks.

[on feminine hygiene aids] There are a lot of men who manufacture the product who are so reluctant to talk straight about it that you can spend hours with them and not hear one anatomical phrase. They speak of 'the problem'. They speak of 'the area where the problem exists'. Every so often a hard-core word slides into the conversation. Vagina, maybe. Or sometimes from someone particularly scientific or candid, a vulva or two.

Where Are They Now

(February 2013) New York, NY, USA: Eight months after her death, Ephron's play 'Lucky Guy' opens on Broadway for a limited run starring her longtime friend Tom Hanks.