Nora Ephron

Ephron married thrice: her first marriage was with writer Dan Greenburg (from 1967-76). Her second marriage was with journalist Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame (from 1976-80)—the couple had two children together: Jacob and Max.

She got married for the third time to Screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi in 1987 and remained married to him until her death.

Ephron died of pneumonia, a complication resulting from acute myeloid leukemia in 2012. Her condition with acute myeloid leukemia was diagnosed 6 years before her death.

Nora Ephron was born in New York to Henry and Phoebe Ephron. Both her parents were screenwriters and she was brought up in a creative environment in Beverly Hills along with her three sisters.

She graduated from Beverly Hills High School and later on received her degree from Wellesley College in Massachusetts in 1962. After that she took up a job as an intern in the White House.

After her brief stint at the White House, Ephron started working for the New York Post as a reporter. She landed the job after the editor liked a parody that she wrote on the ‘New York Post’.

She became a famous writer with the New York Post, especially after she came out with the sensational news in 1966 that singer Bob Dylan had married Sara Lownds in a private ceremony three-and-a-half months before.

Soon after her success with the Post, she started writing a column on women’s issues for Esquire and wrote about various topics and personalities that interested the female gender, like—on Dorothy Schiff, Betty Friedan, her alma mater Wellesley.

In the 1970s, her articles, focused on sex, food, and New York City, were collected and published in 1970's ‘Wallflower at the Orgy’ and 1975's ‘Crazy Salad’. ‘A Few Words About Breasts’, made her name as an essayist.

In 1983, she made an entry into the world of movies by writing the screenplay for the drama ‘Silkwood’. The story became so popular that she received an Academy Award nomination in the category of Best Screenplay.

Ephron started her creative career with journalism and writing essays but it was leap into screenwriting and film making that made her extremely famous. She is known for writing and directing epic films like, ‘Sleepless in Seattle’, ‘Julie & Julia’, etc.