Writer and filmmaker Nora Ephron dies aged 71

Published on 27/06/2012 14:58

NORA Ephron, the essayist, author and filmmaker has died of leukaemia at the age 71.

Ephron was among the most quotable and influential writers of her generation.

She wrote and directed such favourites as Julie & Julia and Sleepless in Seattle, and her books included the novel Heartburn, a brutal roman a clef about her marriage to Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein; and the popular essay collections I Feel Bad About My Neck and I Remember Nothing.

Ephron’s son, Jacob Bernstein, confirmed her death.

She wrote openly about her difficult childhood, her failed relationships, her doubts about her physical appearance and the hated intrusion of age.

“We all look good for our age. Except for our necks,” she wrote in the title piece from I Feel Bad About My Neck, published in 2006.

“Oh, the necks. There are chicken necks. There are turkey gobbler necks. There are elephant necks. There are necks with wattles and necks with creases that are on the verge of becoming wattles. ... According to my dermatologist, the neck starts to go at 43 and that’s that.”