(RxWiki News) Screenwriter and filmmaker, Nora Ephron, has died after battling leukemia. She was 71.
Ephron died of pneumonia, as a result her acute myeloid leukemia, according to her son, Jacob Bernstein.
The author, screenwriter and director may be most famous for her lovable romantic comedies -- "When Harry Met Sally" and "Sleepless in Seattle" -- both of which earned her Oscar nominations for Best Screenplay.
Starting as a reporter for the New York Post, she got into films when she rewrote the script for "All the President's Men." At the time, she was married to Carl Bernstein, one of the Washington Post reporters who worked on the story that toppled the presidency of Richard Nixon.
Other favorite films are "Silkwood," also nominated for an Oscar and "You've Got Mail."
In addition to screenplays, Ephron was a prolific writer. Her books have included Heartburn and Crazy Salad.
Leukemia is diagnosed in 47,000 Americans each year and takes 23,500 lives, according to the American Cancer Society.
There are four major types of leukemia - acute lymphocytic, chronic lymphocytic, acute myeloid and chronic myeloid.
That Ephron was gravely ill was only made public on the day of her death.
Columnist Liz Smith said of her friend's death, "[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."
