Nora Ephron Dies at 71; Writer, Director of American Film Classic 'Sleepless in Seattle'

Nora Ephron, the writer and director of American film classics such as "When Harry Met Sally" and "Sleepless in Seattle," died today at the age of 71.
Ephron died in a New York City hospital after a long battle with leukemia and taxing chemotherapy treatment, friends of hers told ABC News.

The three-time Academy Award nominee was a prolific author, screenwriter, playwright and director who made a name for herself as a pioneer in Hollywood, where she was one of the first women to write and direct her own films. She contributed essays and journalism to outlets including the New York Times and the Huffington Post, for which she last wrote a story in June 2011.

"The loss of Nora Ephron is a devastating one for New York City's arts and cultural community. From her earliest days at New York City's newspapers to her biggest Hollywood successes, Nora always loved a good New York story, and she could tell them like no one else," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement. "The books, movies and plays that she set in the world's greatest city are classics that will be enjoyed for generations, but New York City will miss Nora very much. She was a dear friend, and her husband Nick and the rest of her family are in my thoughts and prayers."

She had most recently written the play "Lucky Guy," a drama based on the life of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mike McAlary, which was expected to open on Broadway in 2013 with Tom Hanks in the starring role.

Ephron's marked film career was known for her charming romantic-comedies that often starred such silver screen icons as Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, and Meg Ryan, with whom she worked multiple times throughout her career. Streep starred in Ephron's first hit film, 1983's "Silkwood," which was directed by Mike Nichols and earned Ephron her first Academy Award for screenwriting.

The pair worked together again on Ephron's memorist film "Heatburn" in 1986, which she based on her tumultuous relationship with her second husband, the journalist Carl Bernstein. Bernstein, who helped crack the Watergate story open at the Washington Post in the early 1970s, reportedly cheated on Ephron during their marriage, which ended in divorce. The couple had two sons before they split, Jacob, now a journalist, and Max, a musician.

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