Nora Ephron—acclaimed for her sharp wit as much for her skills as a writer, journalist, director and screenwriter—died today at age 71, after losing a battle with leukemia.
Gay audiences have long enjoyed Ephron’s work on romantic comedies like When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle and Julie & Julia, but she also received an Oscar nomination for the screenplay to the stark bio-pic Silkwood, which featured Cher in a breakout role as Meryl Streep’s lesbian best friend.
The former wife of Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein, Ephron first carved a name for herself as part of the New Journalism movement, with acerbic essays like 1972’s A Few Words About Breasts. She later wrote a roman a clef about the dissolution of her marriage to Bernstein in 1983’s Heartburn, which became another Ephron project starring Meryl Streep. More recently she wrote the play Love Loss & What I Wore with her sister, Delia.
Ephron is survived by her husband, novelist Nicholas Pileggi (with Ephron above), and her sons, Max and Jacob Bernstein.
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Colin
OMG I didn’t know Zac Efron’s mom was so old. So sad she died. RIP.
Matt
Rest in peace.
jason
Condolence to Nora’s family and friends. They will cherish her contribution to their lives.
However, I didn’t consider Nora’s work particularly gay-friendly from the male perspective. Like many women, she seemed to avoid us.