Nora Ephron, acclaimed writer and director behind romantic comedies like You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle, has died due to complications of illness. She was 71.
A force of wit and wisdom, Ephron's novels, essays and films surpassed generations and genders alike. She began as a journalist and a playwright, then took on the Hollywood boys' club, observing that, to studio executives, "a movie about a woman's cure for cancer is less interesting than a movie about a man with a hangnail."
After writing the script for When Harry Met Sally, and writing/directing You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle, it was her turn to call the shots.
For the last six years Ephron struggled with myelodysplasia, a blood disorder, of which recently made her extremely ill. She passed away Tuesday in a New York hospital.