Nora Ephron, Hollywood screenwriter of the classic film When Harry Met Sally and the recent Oscar winning Julie & Julia, has died at the age of 71, in Manhattan.

Ephron’s publisher, Alfred P Knopf, made a statement on Tuesday night confirming the writer’s death. Her son informed, she had died due to complications related to acute myeloid leukaemia.

“She brought an awful lot of people a tremendous amount of joy,” her publisher said in a statement. “She will be sorely missed,” commented Alfred P Knopf.

Ephron was born to a Broadway playwright and Hollywood screenwriter and grew up following her mother’s advice, “take notes, everything is copy”. After growing up in California, she began her professional career reporting for the New York Post.

In her career, Ephron did 15 films including Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, You’ve Got Mail and the recent Meryl Streep film, Julie & Julia, which was her final film, in 2009. She was nominated three time for Oscar in her magnificent career, but unfortunately never won the award.

The talented writer also wrote two memoirs, varied nonfiction books and also several essays for noted US magazines.

She was married thrice, once to Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post reporter who earned fame helping to uncover the Watergate scandal, to Dan Greenburg, who was her first husband, and to Nicholas Pileggi, writer of screenplays for the Martin Scorsese films Goodfellas and Casino.

Related:
LeRoy Neiman, Olympiads official painter and sports artist, dies at 91

•