Nora Ephron : a biography

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Title:

Nora Ephron : a biography

Author:

Doidge, Kristin Marguerite, author.

ISBN:

9781641603751

Physical Description:

xv, 272 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

General Note:

Includes reading group guide (pages 231-232).

Contents:

Author's note: Why Nora Ephron (still) matters -- Prologue: Not an heiress -- Act I: Growing up Ephron (the early years: 1941-1958). The goddess ; The camp years ; Beverly Hills High -- Act II: The Wellesley years (1958-1962) & new journalism (1962-Mid-1970s). Take Her, She's Mine (Nora at Wellesley) ; Mail girl ; Wallflower ; After Wallflower (women's issues) -- Act III: Bernstein and Bernie (1976-1987). Ms. Ephron goes to Washington ; When Nora met Jacob ; Rescued by a building ; When Nick met Nora -- Act IV: Nora the filmmaker (1989-2000s). What Nora's having ; My Blue Heaven ; This Is My Life ; Sleepless ; After Sleepless ; Michael ; Mail -- Act V: In the end (2000-2012). Hanging Up ; Bewitched ; "I have this blood thing" ; A softer Nora ; Butter ; More writing than ever -- Epilogue: America post-Nora (2012-present).

Personal Subject:

Ephron, Nora.

Subject Term:

Women screenwriters -- United States -- Biography.

Screenwriters -- United States -- Biography.

Women motion picture producers and directors -- United States -- Biography.

Motion picture producers and directors -- United States -- Biography.

Women journalists -- United States -- Biography.

Journalists -- United States -- Biography.

Genre:

Biographies.

Summary:

"Nora Ephron: A Biography is the first comprehensive portrait of the Manhattan-born girl who forged a path of her own, earning accolades and adoration from critics and fans alike. Author Kristin Marguerite Doidge explores the tremendous successes and disappointing failures Ephron sustained in her career as a popular essayist turned screenwriter turned film director. She redefined the modern rom-com genre with bestselling books such as Heartburn and hit movies including When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and Julie & Julia. Doidge also examines the private life Ephron tried to keep in balance with her insatiable ambition. Based on rare archival research and numerous interviews with some of Ephron's closest friends, collaborators, and award-winning colleagues including actors Tom Hanks and Caroline Aaron, comedian Martin Short, composer George Fenton, and lifelong friends from Wellesley to New York to Hollywood--as well as interviews Ephron herself gave throughout her career--award-winning journalist and cultural critic Doidge has written a captivating story of the life of a creative writer whose passion for the perfect one-liner and ferocious drive to succeed revolutionized journalism, comedy, and film." --

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake)	921 EPHRON	Searching... Unknown
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	921 EPHRON	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Nora Ephron was one of the most popular, accomplished, and beloved writers in American journalism and film.

Nora Ephron: A Biography is the first comprehensive portrait of the Manhattan-born girl who forged a path of her own, earning accolades and adoration from critics and fans alike. Author Kristin Marguerite Doidge explores the tremendous successes and disappointing failures Ephron sustained in her career as a popular essayist turned screenwriter turned film director. She redefined the modern rom-com genre with bestselling books such as Heartburn and hit movies including When Harry Met Sally , Sleepless in Seattle , and Julie & Julia . Doidge also examines the private life Ephron tried to keep in balance with her insatiable ambition.

Based on rare archival research and numerous interviews with some of Ephron's closest friends, collaborators, and award-winning colleagues including actors Tom Hanks and Caroline Aaron, comedian Martin Short, composer George Fenton, and lifelong friends from Wellesley to New York to Hollywood--as well as interviews Ephron herself gave throughout her career--award-winning journalist and cultural critic Doidge has written a captivating story of the life of a creative writer whose passion for the perfect one-liner and ferocious drive to succeed revolutionized journalism, comedy, and film.

The first in-depth biography to explore the complex themes that ran through Ephron's work and to examine why so many of them still grab our attention today.

Author Notes

Kristin Marguerite Doidge is an award-winning journalist, professor, and speaker based in Los Angeles. Her writing has been featured in The Atlantic , Marie Claire , FORTUNE , xoJane , Bustle , KCRW/NPR, Time Out Los Angeles , GOOD magazine, ETOnline.com, GIRLBOSS, and the Los Angeles Business Journal . She earned multiple NAEJ Awards and Los Angeles/Southern California Press Club Award nominations. She has a master's degree in specialized journalism from the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Journalism and teaches journalism and strategic public relations at Loyola Marymount University.

Reviews (3)

Kirkus Review

A journalist recounts the life of a groundbreaking director. Few careers were as varied and successful as that of Nora Ephron (1941-2012). Born in New York City but raised in Beverly Hills, she graduated from Wellesley in 1962. Shortly thereafter, she moved to NYC to be a "mail girl" at Newsweek, where a member of the old guard told her, "Women don't become writers at Newsweek." Of course, Ephron became much more, writing iconic essays for Esquire and New York magazine before publishing Heartburn (1983), an autobiographical novel about her torturous marriage to her second husband, Carl Bernstein. She then worked in Hollywood, first as the screenwriter of Silkwood and When Harry Met Sally… before directing hits like Sleepless in Seattle. In a breezy narrative, Doidge summarizes Ephron's career. Clearly a fan, she doesn't always see the context around her subject. Ephron became a director at age 50, an accomplishment that, according to Doidge, "helped us to see that it's never too late to go after your dreams." True, but it surely didn't hurt Ephron to have grown up a "child of 'the business' " with, among many other connections, Oscar-nominated screenwriters for parents. Occasionally, the author makes jarringly trivializing comments. For example, during the Cuban missile crisis, Ephron "was confronting a crisis of her own: how to emerge from behind the city desk to become the writer she'd always known she could be." Later, she mentions "author John Gregory Dunne and his wife Joan Didion." However, Ephron fans will appreciate details of her struggles as a woman in a male-dominated industry. A perfectionist like most directors, she had trouble getting the crew to bring her a specific brand of cream soda on the set of This Is My Life--she was passionate about food--and was flabbergasted when, on Bewitched, a prop man brought the wrong kind of muffins for a scene. Those were minor complaints, perhaps, but complaints that male directors wouldn't have had to register. A cheerful view of an acclaimed filmmaker. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Essayist, journalist, novelist, director, writer for screen and stage. Ephron could do it all, including keep a secret. When she was diagnosed with an uncommon form of leukemia in 2006, even some family members were unaware how seriously ill she was. Her death at 71 in 2012 shocked the entertainment world and saddened the legion of fans who devoured her candid memoirs about love and aging or broke out the popcorn for her infectiously charming rom-coms. The ever-hopeful yet fiercely determined Ephron was celebrated for the light touch she brought to even the darkest of subjects, including, famously, her own divorces and, tragically, impending death. Although often glossing over this glossiest of lives, Doidge's biography will satisfy true Ephron admirers by revisiting favorite movies, dishing backstory details, and serving up insider peeks at her personal life. Those unfamiliar with Ephron's oeuvre will be enticed to learn more as award-winning journalist Doidge hits the highlights of Ephron's multifaceted career in a biography that is both breezy and substantial.

Library Journal Review

"I'll have what she's having." That classic line comes from When Harry Met Sally, one of the best romantic comedy films ever produced, and the pen of Nora Ephron. Doidge's comprehensive and optimistic biography of the writer and film director proves Ephron's talent, ambition and drive began decades before she found her niche in films. Her parents were both Hollywood screenwriters and alcoholics. Doidge ushers readers through Ephron's formative camp experiences in Arizona, her attendance at Beverly Hills High School and Wellesley College, then through her subsequent careers in journalism, screenwriting, and film directing. Add in three husbands, one of whom--Carl Bernstein--was the subject of her successful novel and film Heartburn. Ephron was a comedic genius who truly found her milieu when she ventured into the world of filmmaking (three of her screenplays were Oscar-nominated). Life was not all rosy; as with many comedic talents, there was a lingering sadness in Ephron, which Dodge ties to the early loss of her mother who taught her that "everything is copy." VERDICT Doidge's vivacious, enthusiastic biography has serious undertones, much like Ephron herself. It will appeal to Ephron's broad swath of fans. Includes book club questions.--Penelope J. M. Klein

Author's Note: Why Nora Ephron (Still) Matters	p. ix
Prologue: Not an Heiress	p. xiii
Act I Growing Up Ephron (The Early Years: 1941-1958)
1 The Goddess	p. 3
2 The Camp Years	p. 9
3 Beverly Hills High	p. 19
Act II The Wellesley Years (1958-1962) & New Journalism (1962-Mid-1970s)
4 Take Her, She's Mine (Nora at Wellesley)	p. 29
5 Mail Girl	p. 39
6 Wallflower	p. 47
7 After Wallflower (Women's Issues)	p. 59
Act III Bernstein and Bernie (1976-1987)
8 Ms. Ephron Goes to Washington	p. 69
9 When Nora Met Jacob	p. 78
10 Rescued by a Building	p. 85
11 When Nick Met Nora	p. 92
Act IV Nora the Filmmaker (1989-2000s)
12 What Nora's Having	p. 101
13 My Blue Heaven	p. 108
14 This Is My Life	p. 118
15 Sleepless	p. 126
16 After Sleepless	p. 135
17 Michael	p. 144
18 Mail	p. 153
Act V In the End (2000-2012)
19 Hanging Up	p. 165
20 Bewitched	p. 174
21 "I Have This Blood Thing"	p. 181
22 A Softer Nora	p. 189
23 Butter	p. 197
24 More Writing than Ever	p. 207
Epilogue: America Post-Nora (2012-Present)	p. 219
Acknowledgments	p. 227
Book Club Questions	p. 231
Notes	p. 233
Selected Bibliography	p. 260
Index	p. 263

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Bound With These Titles

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (3)

Kirkus Review

Booklist Review

Library Journal Review

Table of Contents

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