Nora Ephron ‘Gravely Ill’

Nora Ephron, acclaimed novelist, screenwriter, and director, is nearing the end of her battle with leukemia, say several friends. According to writer Richard Cohen, her death is “imminent.” Ephron, 71, a native New Yorker and Hollywood icon, began her career in journalism before writing film classics like Silkwood, Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, and When Harry Met Sally. Her work has won three Academy Awards, and she has directed many of her own films. Ephron married Goodfellas screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi in 1987, following a four-year marriage to The Washington Post’s Carl Bernstein.