Women's History Month: Nora Ephron

Here's to screenwriter, director, and journalist Nora Ephron.

"I try to write parts for women that are as complicated and interesting as women actually are."

Nora was born in New York City, eldest of four daughters in a Jewish family, and grew up in Beverly Hills; her parents, Henry and Phoebe Ephron, were screenwriters who wrote classics such as There's No Business Like Show Business and Desk Set. Her parents based Sandra Dee's character in the play and the Jimmy Stewart film Take Her, She's Mine on their 22-year-old daughter Nora and her letters to them from college. She graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1958, and from Wellesley College in 1962.

Nora has been married three times. Her second was to journalist Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame in 1976. She had an infant son, Jacob, and was pregnant with her second son, Max, in 1979 when she found out the news of Bernstein's affair with their mutual friend, married British politician Margaret Jay. Nora was inspired by the events to write the 1983 novel Heartburn, which was made into a 1986 film starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. In the book, she wrote of a husband named Mark, who was “capable of having sex with a Venetian blind.” Nora also said that the character Thelma (based on Margaret Jay) looked like a giraffe with "big feet." Bernstein threatened to sue over the book and film, but he never did.

She worked briefly as an intern in the White House of President John F. Kennedy.

Nora landed a job at the New York Post, where she stayed as a reporter for five years. Upon becoming a successful writer, she wrote a column on women's issues for Esquire. In this position, Nora made a name for herself by taking on subjects as wide-ranging as Dorothy Schiff, her former boss and owner of the Post; Betty Friedan, whom she chastised for pursuing a feud with Gloria Steinem; and her alma mater Wellesley, which she said had turned out a generation of "docile" women.

For many years, she was among only a handful of people in the world claiming to know the identity of Deep Throat, the source for news articles written by her husband Carl Bernstein during the Watergate scandal.

She has received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay for When Harry Met Sally, Silkwood, and Sleepless in Seattle, which she also directed. Other film successes include You've Got Mail and Julia & Julia.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nora_Ephron
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nora-ephron
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall99/kirkman/ephronbio.htm