If amorous comedy are synonymous with anyone , it ’s writer - director Nora Ephron , whose watershed moviesWhen Harry Met Sally … ,Sleepless in Seattle , andYou’ve Got Mailare widely accredit withsaving the wild-eyed comedy genre . But beyond that , Ephron was a whizz in her own right , compose prolifically about her experience of being a woman , from the seventies up until the meter of her death in 2012 from pneumonia convey on by acute myeloid leukaemia .
In accolade of what would have been Ephron ’s 80th natal day on May 19th , below are some fun facts about the creator ’s life and work .
1. Nora Ephron was fictionalized from an early age.
Ephron made her life telling other citizenry ’s stories , but she ’s instigate some , too — go steady back to her adolescent year . Ephron ’s parents , Hollywood screenwriters Phoebe and Henry Ephron , establish their 1961 playand subsequent filmTake Her , She ’s Mineon letters Nora sent place while attending Wellesley College .
2. Nora Ephron broke into journalism in a unique way.
Ephron aspired from a immature years to be two things : A diary keeper experience in New York City andthe next Dorothy Parker . After college , Ephron scored a job atNewsweekas a mail girlfriend , buther big breakcame when her Quaker Victor Navasky asked her to pen a parody of Leonard Lyons’sNew York Postcolumn forMonocle .
" When thePest(get it ? ) , a perfect visual replica of the paper , come out , the editors at thePostwanted to sue,“Navasky wrotein a piece about Ephron following her death forThe Nation . " But Dorothy Schiff , the owner , order ' If they can spoof us , they can write for us , ' and one week into a two - week trial , they rent Nora . "
Ephron ’s stint atNewsweekwould subsequently be a highlightof the Amazon dramaGood Girls Revolt .
3. Nora Ephron once found herself in the crosshairs of the women’s liberation movement.
4.When Harry Met Sally…wasn’t written for the reason you’d expect.
AlthoughWhen Harry Met Sally … is now synonymous with themodern day rom - com , Ephron ’s ground for writing it were , well , lessthan romantic . She wrote openly inher essay“My Life As An Heiress ” about writing the film for the money , andwould recent blanche at the ideathat she might one twenty-four hour period become “ some queen of romanticism . ” In 2006Ephron admittedthat romanticist comedies are “ almost all I ’ve been able to get made , ” suggesting a contrast between the view of Ephron ’s films and Ephron herself .
5. Nora Ephron made a cameo inSleepless in Seattle.
Or her phonation did , at least . Ephron can be heardcalling into Dr. Marcia Fieldstone ’s radio show as “ frustrated in Denver , ” lamenting to the radio host , “ Every time I come close to orgasm , he proceed to make himself a sandwich . ” Disappointed , indeed .
6. Nora Ephron had a complicated—but lucrative—relationship with technology.
On herfamed list of things“I Wo n’t Miss ” after she passed away , Ephron included email not once , but doubly , writing “ I know I already allege it , but I want to emphasize it . ” Despite her patronage for the electronic format , Ephron made e-mail the linchpin ofYou’ve Got Mail , a idle remaking of Ernst Lubitsch’sThe Shop Around the Corner(1940 ) , andone of Ephron ’s most successful films .
Ephron also documented her struggle withan onlineScrabbleaddiction , sayingScrabble Blitzturned her brain to “ cheese . ” No matter how Ephron feel about engineering science , though , she knew it was the wave of the future and enthrone sagely , doubling the expected valueof her acres with investments in Apple , Google , and Amazon .
7. Nora Ephron planned her own funeral.
Ephron was known to have an exacting nature — and with serious rationality . “ The problem with Nora is that she ’s right-hand about almost everything , all the time,”You’ve receive Mailassociate producer Dianne Dreyeronce said . Ephron ’s own funeral was no exception . Prior to her last , the three - time Oscar nomineereserved $ 100,000to pay for the occasion , which was held at Alice Tully Hall , anddecided on everythingfrom the solid food ( a perfectly prepared brisket ) to the speakers ( Meryl Streep , Mike Nichols , and more ) and how long each of them had to babble out .
8. Somewhere out there, there’s a cookbook full of Nora Ephron’s favorite recipes.
If Ephron was jazz for anything beyond her impeccable wit , it washer love of food , which often made its way into her writing . An accomplished chef in her own right , shebestowed her stuffy family member and friendswith an original Nora Ephron cookbook when she passed away . It contains 174 of her recipes and isolated observations — certainly a giving that would keep on gift . The rest of us , however , will have to settle forthis one Monkey Bread formula , which was said to be her favorite breakfast .
