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Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Tragedies ... or comedies?


“My mother wanted us to understand that the tragedies of your life one day have the potential to be comic stories the next.” – Nora Ephron

Best known for her romantic comedies, Nora Ephron was an American journalist, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, novelist, producer, director, and blogger (I think that about covers every type of writing, but of course she didn’t Tweet, so maybe not).

If ever there was a “family of writers,” it would be the Ephron family.  Born this day in 1941, Ephron was the oldest of four girls who all became successful writers, and both of her parents also were writers – so it truly may have been in her genes.  Her sisters Delia and Amy are also screenwriters, and her sister Hallie is a journalist, book reviewer and novelist who writes crime fiction.

She also married a writer – and a quite famous one at that.  She and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post (and Watergate reporting fame) were married for a dozen years and had a son, Jacob, who also grew up to be a writer.  In fact, he is now writing the screenplay for the upcoming HBO movie about his mother’s life, tentatively called “Everything is Copy,” which is pretty much how Nora looked at the world when she prepared to write.

 
 Nora Ephron
Successful in almost everything, she was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Writing for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally, and Sleepless in Seattle.  She won numerous awards for When Harry Met Sally, and if there had been an award for best original scene it definitely would have been for the one where an older woman sitting in a restaurant watching Sally tells the waitress “I’ll have what she’s having.” 

If you haven’t seen it, take a look on You Tube.  It will definitely make your day.  As, of course, did most of the terrific writing done by this American icon.


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