1966–1979: Work as a journalist After graduating from Wellesley, Ephron worked briefly as an intern in the
White House of President
John F. Kennedy. She also applied to be a writer at
Newsweek. After she was told they did not hire women writers, she accepted a position as a mail girl. After eventually quitting
Newsweek because she was not allowed to write, Ephron participated in a class action lawsuit against the magazine for sexual discrimination, described in the book
The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued Their Bosses and Changed the Workplace by Lynn Povich, and both the lawsuit and Ephron's role were fictionalized in a 2016 Amazon series by the similar main title
Good Girls Revolt. After a satire in
Monocle she wrote lampooning the
New York Post caught the editor's eye, Ephron accepted a job at the
Post, where she worked as a reporter for five years. After becoming a successful writer, she wrote a column on women's issues for
Esquire. While at
Esquire, she took on subjects as wide-ranging as
Dorothy Schiff, her former boss and owner of the
Post;
Betty Friedan, whom she chastised for pursuing a feud with
Gloria Steinem; and her alma mater Wellesley, which she said had turned out "a generation of docile and unadventurous women".
1980–1998: Romantic comedy stardom In 1983, Ephron co-scripted the film
Silkwood with
Alice Arlen. The film, directed by
Mike Nichols, starred
Meryl Streep as
Karen Silkwood, a whistleblower at the Kerr McGee Cimarron nuclear facility who dies under suspicious circumstances. Ephron and Arlen were nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar in 1984 for
Silkwood. Ephron's novel
Heartburn was published in 1983. Ephron's script was nominated for the 1990 Oscar in Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. In 1993, Ephron directed and wrote the script for the romantic comedy
Sleepless in Seattle. The film stars
Tom Hanks as Sam Baldwin, a recently widowed father whose son calls into a Chicago-based radio talk show in an attempt to find his father a new partner. After hearing this call, Baltimore resident Annie Reed, played by Meg Ryan, becomes infatuated with Sam, and sets up a rendezvous for the two to meet in New York City. The film received positive reviews with Michael Wilmington of
Los Angeles Times describing it as a "real charmer ... a romantic comedy about an ultimate long-distance relationship. Emphasize 'romantic.' Emphasize 'comedy.' It delivers both", adding that it "almost makes us forget our modern-day cynicism". The film was a box office success becoming
one of the highest-grossing films of 1993. Ephron was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay losing to
Jane Campion for
The Piano (1993). In 1994, Nora Ephron was awarded the
Women in Film Crystal Award. That year, she directed the dark Christmas comedy
Mixed Nuts (1994) which starred
Steve Martin,
Madeline Kahn,
Rita Wilson,
Rob Reiner and
Adam Sandler. The film was based on the French comedy
Le Père Noël est une ordure (1979). She co-wrote the screenplay with her sister
Delia Ephron. The film received mixed reviews and was a box office flop. She then directed the comedy fantasy film
Michael (1996) starring
John Travolta,
Andie MacDowell and
William Hurt. The film received mixed reviews but was a box office success. David Ansen of
Newsweek praised the film as being "charming...quirky...[and] a Christmas stocking stuffer". In 1998, Nora Ephron directed the film ''
You've Got Mail, which she co-wrote with her sister Delia Ephron. The story is a loose adaptation of the Ernst Lubitsch film from 1940 The Shop Around the Corner.'' In 2007, Ephron received the Golden Plate Award of the
American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member
George Lucas. Ephron directed and co-wrote the screenplay for her final film
Julie & Julia (2009). == Personal life ==