It’s always sad news reporting the death of someone associated with the world of cinema (or indeed anyone!). However, THN unfortunately learned today that writer and director Nora Ephron has died at the age of 71. Responsible for helming romantic classics SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE and YOU’VE GOT MAIL (both starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks), Ephron passed away after a long battle with leukaemia.
In her long 40-year career she may have only directed eight features – beginning in 1992 with THIS IS MY LIFE – but she was also a best-selling author and screenwriter of the likes of WHEN HARRY MET SALLY and HEARTBURN. A three-time Oscar nominee, Ephron also won a BAFTA for her SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE screenplay. Her final film, 2009’s JULIE & JULIA saw Meryl Streep receive yet another Academy Award nomination.
Nora Ephron is survived by her husband Nicholas Pileggi, novelist and screenwriter of GOODFELLAS and CASINO, and sons Jacob and Max from a previous marriage to Watergate’s crusading journalist Carl Bernstein.
Source: Variety
