The daughter of playwrights Henry and Phoebe Ephron. She grew up in Los Angeles, feeling much like an outsider. She went east to go to school at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Gifted with a sharp wit, Ephron first made her mark as an essayist. In 1970, her articles were collected and published in 1970'sWallflower at the Orgyand 1975'sCrazy Salad. Her first novel,Heartburn(1983), drew inspiration from the end of her second marriage to journalist Carl Bernstein and was later made into a film starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. Ephron wrote the screenplay for the dramaSilkwood(1983). It earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay. While that film received much praise, she really hit box office gold with her screenplay forWhen Harry Met Sally(1989), starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan in the title roles. Audiences and critics alike responded enthusiastically to the well-crafted exploration into whether a man and a woman can be just friends and the relationship that develops between the lead characters. She received her second Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay for the film. Later, she wrote and directedSleepless in Seattle(1993),You’veGot Mail(1998) andJulie & Julia(2009). She had 2 sons, Max and Jacob Bernstein.  Ephron died from pneumonia, caused by acute myeloid leukemia, on June 26, 2012, at the age of 71.