10 min read
Reading time
1,964
Words
Published
15
Film credits
7
Books
2
Awards
Nora Ephron earned an Oscar nomination for her original screenplay for When Harry Met Sally 1989. She made her directorial debut with This Is My Life 1992 and co-wrote and directed Sleepless in Seattle 1993. Ephron died in 2012 at age 71 from pneumonia caused by leukemia.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Nora Ephron — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Nora Ephron by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Nora Ephron — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Screenwriting duo Henry Ephron and Phoebe Ephron used their infant daughter Nora, born in New York City on May 19, 1941, as inspiration for their play Three’s a Family and later based their film Take Her, She’s Mine 1963 on the letters she wrote from college. Raised alongside three sisters, Delia, Hallie, and Amy, Ephron grew up in a show business household. She attended Beverly Hills High School and studied at Wellesley College.
Silkwood 1983, co-written with Alice Arlen, launched Nora Ephron’s screenwriting career. She earned an Oscar nomination for her original screenplay for When Harry Met Sally… 1989, directed by Rob Reiner. Ephron made her directorial debut with This Is My Life 1992, co-written with sister Delia Ephron. She followed with Sleepless in Seattle 1993, co-writing and directing Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, inspired by the 1957 film An Affair to Remember. Later works include Julie & Julia 2009, starring Meryl Streep.
In 1967, Nora Ephron married novelist Dan Greenburg. They divorced in 1976. The same year she married investigative journalist Carl Bernstein, with whom she had a son, Jacob, before divorcing in 1980. Her third marriage, in 1987, was to crime journalist and screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, which lasted until her death. Ephron was of Russian Jewish descent and kept a Manhattan apartment at the Apthorp.
Nora Ephron’s When Harry Met Sally… and Sleepless in Seattle set the template for romantic comedies. Author and forger Lee Israel made prank calls impersonating Ephron. Eight months after her death, Ephron’s play Lucky Guy premiered on Broadway in 2013, starring her friend Tom Hanks. Her sharp, witty voice helped redefine screenwriting.
Browse the complete filmography of Nora Ephron — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Could not load more credits.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Nora Ephron — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Nora Ephron's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
A wall of memorable lines from Nora Ephron — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
Insane People Are Always Sure That They Are Fine. It Is Only the Sane People Who Are Willing to Admit That They Are Crazy.
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.
I Don’t Care Who You Are. When You Sit Down to Write the First Page of Your Screenplay, in Your Head, You’re Also Writing Your Oscar Acceptance Speech.
I Am Continually Fascinated at the Difficulty Intelligent People Have in Distinguishing What Is Controversial from What Is Merely Offensive.
If Pregnancy Were a Book They Would Cut the Last Two Chapters.
The Desire to Get Married, Which I Regret to Say, I Believe Is Basic and Primal in Women Is Followed Almost Immediately by an Equally Basic and Primal Urge Which Is to Be Single Again.
Summer Bachelors, Like Summer Breezes, Are Never as Cool as They Pretend to Be.
My Mother Was a Good Recreational Cook, but What She Basically Believed About Cooking Was That If You Worked Hard and Prospered, Someone Else Would Do It for You.
I Try to Write Parts for Women That Are as Complicated and Interesting as Women Actually Are.
In My Sex Fantasy, Nobody Ever Loves Me for My Mind.
My Mother Wanted Us to Understand That the Tragedies of Your Life One Day Have the Potential to Be Comic Stories the Next.
What Will Happen to Sex After Liberation? Frankly, I Don’t Know. It Is a Great Mystery to All of Us.
What My Mother Believed About Cooking Is That If You Worked Hard and Prospered, Someone Else Would Do It for You.
With Any Child Entering Adolescence, One Hunts for Signs of Health, Is Desperate for the Smallest Indication That the Child’s Problems Will Never Be Important Enough for a Television Movie.
When You Realize You Want to Spend the Rest of Your Life with Somebody, You Want the Rest of Your Life to Start as Soon as Possible.
Beware of Men Who Cry. It’s True That Men Who Cry Are Sensitive to and in Touch with Feelings, but the Only Feelings They Tend to Be Sensitive to and in Touch with Are Their Own.
Whenever I Get Married, I Start Buying Gourmet Magazine.
As Far as the Men Who Are Running for President Are Concerned, They Aren’t Even People I Would Date.
A Successful Parent Is One Who Raises Their Child to Be Able to Pay for Their Own Psychoanalysis.
Little-known facts about Nora Ephron — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Only a few years before her death, Ephron was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a pre-leukemic condition, a secret she shared with only close family and friends.
Eight months after her death, Ephron’s play Lucky Guy opened on Broadway for a limited run starring her longtime friend Tom Hanks.
In a 2005 interview with Tom Brokaw, Ephron said she deduced the identity of Watergate informant Deep Throat from clues in Carl Bernstein’s notes, using the initials M.F. for my friend. Her guess proved correct when Mark Felt was revealed as Deep Throat on May 31, 2005.
In her book I Remember Nothing, Ephron ends with two lists: What I Won’t Miss and What I Will Miss, followed by acknowledgments that conclude with and of course, my doctors.
Her favorite film was Stanley Donen’s Indiscreet 1958, starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman.
She once lived in the famous Manhattan apartment building the Apthorp on the West Side.
The film Can You Ever Forgive Me? 2018 depicts author and forger Lee Israel making drunken prank calls impersonating Ephron, leading to a cease-and-desist letter from Ephron’s lawyers.
Grace Gummer portrayed Ephron in the series Good Girls Revolt 2015. Gummer’s mother, Meryl Streep, starred in three Ephron-written films: Silkwood 1983, Heartburn 1986, and Julie & Julia 2009.
Ephron had two sons, Jacob Bernstein and Max Bernstein.
Ephron was of Russian Jewish and Belarusian Jewish descent.
She was the older sister of Delia Ephron, Hallie Ephron, and Amy Ephron.
Ephron attended Beverly Hills High School alongside famous alumni such as Angelina Jolie, Nicolas Cage, and Lenny Kravitz.
She was the daughter of screenwriters Henry Ephron and Phoebe Ephron.
Jerome Kass, husband of sister Delia, was her brother-in-law.
Sasha Harari, husband of sister Amy, was her former brother-in-law.
She was the aunt of Anna Harari, Maia Harari, and Ethan Harari.
Ephron began her career writing for the satirical publication Monocle.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Nora Ephron.
Celebrities similar to Nora Ephron — same craft, ranked by reach.
🇺🇸 United States
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
