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IMDbPro

Nora Ephron(1941-2012)

  • Writer
  • Producer
  • Director
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Nora Ephron
Trailer for Smiling Through the Apocalypse
Play trailer2:13
Smiling Through the Apocalypse (2013)
5 Videos
48 Photos
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 born in New York City, 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). She was of Russian Jewish descent.
BornMay 19, 1941
DiedJune 26, 2012(71)
BornMay 19, 1941
DiedJune 26, 2012(71)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
  • Nominated for 3 Oscars
    • 8 wins & 21 nominations total

Photos48

Nicole Kidman and Nora Ephron in Bewitched (2005)
Nora Ephron in American Masters (1985)
Nora Ephron in Michael (1996)
Nora Ephron in Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Nora Ephron in Mixed Nuts (1994)
Meryl Streep, Nora Ephron, and Dianne Dreyer in Julie & Julia (2009)
Meryl Streep, Nora Ephron, and Linda Emond in Julie & Julia (2009)
Nora Ephron in Everything Is Copy (2015)
Nora Ephron and Sydney Pollack
Fran Drescher, Nora Ephron, Joely Fisher, Kathy Griffin, and Sara Rue
Nora Ephron and Lesley Stahl
Nora Ephron

Known for

Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in Julie & Julia (2009)
Julie & Julia
7.0
  • Writer
  • 2009
Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
When Harry Met Sally...
7.7
  • Writer
  • 1989
Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell in Bewitched (2005)
Bewitched
4.8
  • Writer
  • 2005
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail (1998)
You've Got Mail
6.7
  • Writer
  • 1998

Credits

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IMDbPro

Writer

  • L'amour, la mort, les fringues (2011)
    L'amour, la mort, les fringues
    • play
    • TV Movie
    • 2011
  • Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in Julie & Julia (2009)
    Julie & Julia
    • screenplay
    • 2009
  • Acting for the Camera (2009)
    Acting for the Camera
    • additional dialogue
    • Short
    • 2009
  • Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell in Bewitched (2005)
    Bewitched
    • written by
    • 2005
  • Meg Ryan, Diane Keaton, and Lisa Kudrow in Hanging Up (2000)
    Hanging Up
    • screenplay
    • 2000
  • Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail (1998)
    You've Got Mail
    • screenplay
    • 1998
  • John Travolta in Michael (1996)
    Michael
    • screenplay
    • 1996
  • Mixed Nuts (1994)
    Mixed Nuts
    • screenplay
    • 1994
  • Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
    Sleepless in Seattle
    • screenplay
    • 1993
  • This Is My Life (1992)
    This Is My Life
    • screenplay
    • 1992
  • Steve Martin and Rick Moranis in My Blue Heaven (1990)
    My Blue Heaven
    • written by
    • 1990
  • Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
    When Harry Met Sally...
    • written by
    • 1989
  • Cookie (1989)
    Cookie
    • written by
    • 1989
  • Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep in Heartburn (1986)
    Heartburn
    • based on her novel
    • screenplay by
    • 1986
  • Cher, Kurt Russell, and Meryl Streep in Silkwood (1983)
    Silkwood
    • written by
    • 1983

Producer

  • Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in Julie & Julia (2009)
    Julie & Julia
    • producer
    • 2009
  • Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell in Bewitched (2005)
    Bewitched
    • producer
    • 2005
  • John Travolta and Lisa Kudrow in Lucky Numbers (2000)
    Lucky Numbers
    • producer
    • 2000
  • Meg Ryan, Diane Keaton, and Lisa Kudrow in Hanging Up (2000)
    Hanging Up
    • producer
    • 2000
  • Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail (1998)
    You've Got Mail
    • producer
    • 1998
  • Rachael Leigh Cook, Kirsten Dunst, Gaby Hoffmann, and Monica Keena in Strike! (1998)
    Strike!
    • executive producer
    • 1998
  • John Travolta in Michael (1996)
    Michael
    • producer
    • 1996
  • Steve Martin and Rick Moranis in My Blue Heaven (1990)
    My Blue Heaven
    • executive producer
    • 1990
  • Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
    When Harry Met Sally...
    • associate producer
    • 1989
  • Cookie (1989)
    Cookie
    • executive producer
    • 1989

Director

  • Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in Julie & Julia (2009)
    Julie & Julia
    • Director
    • 2009
  • Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell in Bewitched (2005)
    Bewitched
    • Director
    • 2005
  • John Travolta and Lisa Kudrow in Lucky Numbers (2000)
    Lucky Numbers
    • Director
    • 2000
  • Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail (1998)
    You've Got Mail
    • Director
    • 1998
  • John Travolta in Michael (1996)
    Michael
    • Director
    • 1996
  • Mixed Nuts (1994)
    Mixed Nuts
    • Director
    • 1994
  • Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
    Sleepless in Seattle
    • Director
    • 1993
  • This Is My Life (1992)
    This Is My Life
    • Director
    • 1992
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Videos5

Julie & Julia -- "Eggs"
Clip 4:48
Julie & Julia -- "Eggs"
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:11
Official Trailer
Smiling Through the Apocalypse
Trailer 2:13
Smiling Through the Apocalypse
Other Stars Up for 'Sleepless in Seattle'?
Video 2:07
Other Stars Up for 'Sleepless in Seattle'?
Jeffrey Wright, Alia Shawkat Take Top Honors at Tribeca
Video 1:50
Jeffrey Wright, Alia Shawkat Take Top Honors at Tribeca

Personal details

Edit
  • Height
    • 5′ 5″ (1.65 m)
  • Born
    • May 19, 1941
    • New York City, New York, USA
  • Died
    • June 26, 2012
    • New York City, New York, USA(pneumonia brought on by acute myeloid leukemia)
  • Spouses
      Nicholas PileggiMarch 28, 1987 - June 26, 2012 (her death)
  • Children
      Jacob Bernstein
  • Parents
      Henry Ephron
  • Relatives
      Delia Ephron(Sibling)
  • Other works
    Directed a short film shown for the The 74th Annual Academy Awards (2002).
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Print Biography
    • 2 Portrayals
    • 2 Interviews
    • 5 Articles

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    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, Mark Felt, former assistant director of the FBI during the Richard Nixon administration, was identified as Deep Throat.
  • 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.
  • Nickname
    • nor

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