Film critic and author Marsha McCreadie remembers an afternoon spent with the late Nora Ephron discussing life, filmmaking, and the industry for her book The Women Who Write the Movies.
So how did I actually get to interview Nora Ephron, who died at the age of 71 two days ago in Manhattan? I had put in requests in the usual fashion, for a book I was writing on women screenwriters. But what sealed the deal was cornering Ephron in the woman’s room of the Loew’s 84th Street movie theater on her beloved upper west side of Manhattan, setting for You’ve Got Mail and When Harry Met Sally..., the topic of the latter — can a woman and man be friends without or with having sex? — having spawned innumerable rom-coms.
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A flurry of online reports today revealed that filmmaker Nora Ephron was battling illness in a New York hospital and not expected to survive the night. The Washington Post now reports that Ephron has died six years after being diagnosed with the blood disorder myelodysplasia.
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Radio and TV host/personality/entrepreneur Dick Clark has died at the age of 82, reports the AP. The "American Bandstand"/"New Year's Rockin' Eve" fixture had suffered a heart attack following an outpatient procedure in Santa Monica. Over the course of his six-decade career Clark also produced awards shows including the American Music Awards (which he founded), the Emmy Awards, and the Golden Globes; he even dabbled in film, writing and starring in the 1968 crime drama Killers Three.
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Comedian, radio personality, Charlie Sheen roaster, and sometimes actor Patrice O'Neal passed away following a stroke last month and his long term struggle with diabetes. "Many of us have lost a close and loved friend; all of us have lost a true comic genius," wrote agent Matt Frost in a statement. O'Neal was best known for his stand up, television, and radio appearances, including stints on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn and the Opie and Anthony show. He also appeared in a handful of films including Head of State and Furry Vengeance; watch him in a scene from Spike Lee's The 25th Hour after the jump.
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With his latest film, the well-received four and a half-hour opus The Mysteries of Lisbon, still in theaters stateside, Chilean filmmaker Raúl Ruiz has passed away in Paris following a lung infection. The director, who had made over 100 films in his nearly five-decade career, was 70.
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Film producer and studio executive Laura Ziskin passed away Sunday after a public battle with cancer, having established a distinguished career as one of Hollywood's most prominent female producers. Her notable credits include Pretty Woman (1990), Hero (1992), To Die For (1995), As Good as It Gets (1997), as well as all three of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films and the upcoming reboot The Amazing Spider-Man. Ziskin was 61.
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