London, June 27 (ANI): Oscar-nominated Hollywood screenwriter and director Nora Ephron, who penned such romantic films as 'When Harry Met Sally' and 'Sleepless in Seattle', died on Tuesday in New York. She was 71.
Alfred P Knopf, Ephron's publisher, confirmed her death on Tuesday night in a statement.
She died in Manhattan of complications from the blood disorder myelodysplasia, with which she was diagnosed six years ago.
According to The New York Times her son Jacob Bernstein said that she died from pneumonia brought on by acute myeloid leukaemia.
The writer grew up in California, and started her career reporting for the New York Post.
"She brought an awful lot of people a tremendous amount of joy," the BBC quoted her publisher as saying in a statement.
"She will be sorely missed," the statement read.
Her 15 film credits also include movies like 'You've Got Mail', 'Silkwood' and 'Julie and Julia', which was her final film, in 2009.
She was nominated for an Oscar three times, but never won the award.
Ephron was born on 19 May 1941 in New York, to a Broadway playwright and a Hollywood screenwriter.
She took her mother's advice - "take notes, everything is copy" - very seriously and turned wry personal observations on relationships into hugely successful romantic comedies.
Ephron wrote essays for major US magazines from the late 1960s, as well as several non-fiction books, including two recent memoirs.
She was married three times, once to Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post reporter who helped uncover the 'Watergate' scandal.
Their marriage ended publicly when he began an affair with the wife of the then-British ambassador, Margaret Jay, who was also the daughter of former British Prime Minister James Callaghan.
Ephron's divorce from Bernstein resulted in the novel, 'Heartburn', which she converted into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson.
Her first marriage to writer Dan Greenburg ended in 1976.
Ephron's third marriage to Nicholas Pileggi, who wrote the screenplays for the Martin Scorsese films 'Goodfellas' and 'Casino', lasted for more than 20 years.
Rumours of her death started circulating on Tuesday evening after her friend, celebrity columnist Liz Smith, published an online memorial.
Smith said the writer's son had informed her that a funeral had been scheduled for his mother.
Ephron is survived by her husband and two sons. (ANI)
