The Washington Post is reporting that Nora Ephron has died after a battle with leukemia. She was 71.

Ephron was best known for her work on some of the most memorable romantic comedies in movie history, including "When Harry Met Sally..." and "Sleepless in Seattle" (she received Oscar nods for Best Screenplay on both).

Ephron began her career as a reporter for the New York Post, and later went on to pen essays for Esquire and New York magazines. She would get her first taste at screenwriting in the mid-1970s, when she ended up rewriting William Goldman's script for "All the President's Men" (Ephron's husband at the time was Carl Bernstein, whose Nixon Watergate scoop was the film's inspiration). The screenplay never ended up being used, but, as Ephron later told the Guardian, "It was a great way to learn, because Goldman was such a great screenwriter that just typing his stage directions taught me a huge amount."

In 1983, Ephron wrote her first film, "Silkwood." Starring Meryl Streep and directed by Mike Nichols, the movie told the true story of a woman who died in a suspicious car accident while looking into the wrongdoing at the plant she worked at (the script got Ephron her first Oscar nomination). Six years later, she wrote "When Harry Met Sally..." The rom-com, starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, is still considered a classic to this day.

Ephron's 1998 movie, "You've Got Mail" -- which she wrote, produced and directed -- turned out to be her most financially successful, grossing $250 million at the box office.

The last film Ephron worked on was 2009's "Julie and Julia," which she also wrote and directed.

Ephron's friend Liz Smith said that "[Nora] seemed never to want or expect anything, while always demanding the best from the rest of us. She was -- always -- right and somehow left the smartest, most ambitious and silliest of us in the dust at her feet."

According to her son Jacob Bernstein, Ephron's cause of death was pneumonia brought on by acute myeloid leukemia. She is survived by her husband, screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, and her sons, Jacob and Max.

沪江娱乐：美国著名女导演、编剧诺拉·艾芙隆（Nora Ephron）也于6月26日去世，享年71岁。美国电影史上非常多叫好又卖座的浪漫爱情喜剧皆出自她之手。其导演代表作有：《西雅图夜未眠》、《电子情书》《美味关系》，编剧作品有《当哈里遇上萨利》 《丝克伍事件》等。

当哈利遇到莎莉 When Harry Met Sally...

导演: 罗伯·莱纳
编剧: 诺拉·艾芙隆
主演: 梅格·瑞恩 / 比利·克里斯托 / 凯丽·费雪 / 布鲁诺·柯比
类型: 剧情 / 喜剧 / 爱情
制片国家/地区: 美国
语言: 英语
上映日期: 1989-07-21

莎莉（梅格·瑞恩 饰）开车载哈利（比利·克里斯托 饰）前往纽约，两人就此相识。途中二人言语相左，不欢而散，并留下经典的问题：“排除‘性’的介入，男人和女人可以成为真正的朋友么？”

五年后，两人在机场不期而遇。此时，莎莉沉浸于新恋情的甜蜜，而哈利即将步入正式的婚姻生活。哈利告诉莎莉：“在两人各有所爱的时候，男人和女人或许可以成为朋友，但很快他们会质疑为什么要与只能做朋友的人交往。”莎莉佛袖而去。

十年后，失恋中的莎莉再次偶遇刚刚离婚的哈利。哈利对莎莉说：“我们要成为朋友了么？你或许是我不想带上床的第一位迷人女性。”

临睡前的通话，共度圣诞，为彼此的感情出谋划策，哈利与莎莉有着不可言喻的默契。然而，这真的是一段美丽友谊的开始么？又或者这悄然来临的是错认了的感情呢……