Who was Nora Ephron?

**Eric** · 01-Jul-2012, 09:03

I suddenly read in the papers and on the internet that Nora Ephron has died. My first reaction was: who was Nora Ephron? I hadn't heard of her before, and now she's died she's achieved cult status in the press.

Could anyone here explain why I should have heard of her before? What did she act in, or otherwise do, that made her famous enough for the media to make such a big news item of her death?

This is not the first time that I have noticed that people connected with the film industry can suddenly be raised to the status of household name, when I personally have never heard of them before. Have you also had such experiences?

**pesahson** · 01-Jul-2012, 09:41

It's a big world. There are plenty of people who mean a lot to someone and about whom others don't care at all.
I think Nora Ephron was always a household name in the U.S. film industry and many people have seen When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You've got mail. These are the titles that I can name off the top of my head, she made many other movies obviously.

**Heteronym** · 01-Jul-2012, 11:14

Nora Ephron was a popular American screenwriter and filmmaker, who was nominated for 3 Oscars. She also wrote Silkwood. She also worked as a journalist and was once married to Carl Bernstein, one of the journalists who exposed the Watergate scandal.

**Stevie B** · 01-Jul-2012, 18:47

Many years ago, I read Wallflower at the Orgy, a collection of Ephron's essays published in the late '60s or early '70s. Other than that, I've watched a number of films scripted by Ephron. So many people enjoyed the iconic scene in "Where Harry Met Sally" (Meg Ryan's fake orgasm in the restaurant), but that scene has always rung false to me. It was good for a laugh, but was not something Meg Ryan's character would have ever done, IMHO.

**Eric** · 01-Jul-2012, 21:21

I'm afraid that most of the names of other people and films mentioned don't mean anything to me either. I have heard of Watergate, though. What I think is happening is that the media is desperate for news in the middle of summer (in the Northern Hemisphere, that is), so if Hollywood thinks someone is important, then he or she is. But some of us have a life beyond celebrity-spotting.

**Eric** · 09-Jul-2012, 05:17

Another unknown Hollywood star has died. Who was Oscar winner Ernest Borgnine? At this rate, all the unknowns of Hollywood will be dead soon, and we can move on.

**Galatea92** · 09-Jul-2012, 12:59

Originally Posted by Eric

Another unknown Hollywood star has died. Who was Oscar winner Ernest Borgnine? At this rate, all the unknowns of Hollywood will be dead soon, and we can move on.

I think this thread shows your ignorance of film history more than anything else, Eric. I can understand you not knowing about Nora Ephron (though I'm surprised you've never heard of the film When Harry Met Sally) - I don't really see you as a romantic comedy kind of guy. But Ernest Borgnine?

Maybe a photo would help:

Ernest Borgine (centre) with Spencer Tracey in Bad Day at Black Rock

**Hamlet** · 10-Jul-2012, 15:50

Is it possibly to not know who Ernest Borgnine is/was?

Let me see, you don't watch films for say, the last 50 years, you don't possess a TV, you avoid popular journalism, ahh yes, I'm getting it now, or even, you live in Sweden. (wink).

**Stevie B** · 10-Jul-2012, 23:29

Borgnine won a best actor Oscar in the late 1950's, but I think he's better known in the States for his TV roles, namely playing the lead on McHale's Navy. Borgnine also had a part opposite Gene Hackman in the film The Poseidon Adventure. He played a former vice cop who married a prostitute he once arrested.