"Nora Ephron's Final Act," the New York Times Magazine story about the final days of writer/director Nora Ephron and the cancer that led to them, is as adoring and intimate as you'd expect coming from her accomplished writer son, Jacob Bernstein (he contributes regularly to the Times and his father is Carl Bernstein, of Watergate fame).
Screenwriter Nora Ephron seems to have passed away, according to this uncomfortably indeterminate column by her friend Liz Smith that just appeared on the internet. Her former close friend Margo Howard also writes on Twitter that Ephron passed away from cancer, and that a funeral is scheduled for Thursday. [Update: We're told it has now been pushed back until after the Fourth of July.] According to the Observer, Ephron's representatives are not commenting on Smith's column.
Last night, Nora Ephron was a panelist on the Real Time with Bill Maher season finale. To celebrate that, Maher came up with a list of "Tea Party Romcoms"—classic romantic comedies, with altered (and politically-charged) titles/posters. Watch inside.
Meg Ryan and Nora Ephron leaving Esca after having lunch on Friday ... Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone walking in the West Village ... Celine Dion and Rene Angelil leaving their hotel en route to lunch at Da Tommaso on Eighth Avenue ... Alex Rodriguez walking in Midtown ... Jessica Stam hanging with boyfriend Austin Cregg and friends downtown ... Shia LaBeouf listening to music on the set of Wall Street 2 ... Nicole Kidman getting out of a car with daughter ... Taylor Momsen walking to the set of Gossip Girl ... James Gandolfini signing autographs outside the Bernard Jacobs Theatre ... Ruben Studdard arriving at JFK ... Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts pushing son Samuel in a stroller ... and Sienna Miller getting out of a cab.
• Permanent Brunch, which will only serve brunch (obviously) and will feature the city's first-ever "bacon menu," opens this week or next. [UD, Eater]
• The recession is forcing some restaurants to close, have you heard? [NYP]
• Fedora in the WV isn't closing after 57 years; the hiatus is temporary. [Eater]
• The super-secret entrance to Café Select is no more, alas. [GS]
• A survey of the city's few remaining traditional Jewish delis. [Citysearch]
• The owner of Via Dei Mille is accused of assaulting his ex-girlfriend. [NYP]
• Rumor has it there have been layoffs and budget cuts at The Box. [DBTH]
• Frank Bruni says he's a big Nora Ephron fan. He also adored Silence of the Lambs, which probably says something about his current career, no? [TDB]
• The Bronx is NYC's fattest borough. Manhattan is New York State's Eastern European model: It's the slimmest of the Empire state's 62 counties. [NYT]
Are you sick of Twitter yet? Probably! But if not, wait patiently because the spunky little messaging service is teaming with a group of Hollywood geniuses to bring you an "unscripted show" that would "harness Twitter to put players on the trail of celebrities in an interactive, competitive format." Yeah.
Author, screenwriter and director Nora Ephron turns 68 today. PBS NewsHour host Jim Lehrer is 75. British model Lily Cole is 21. Oxygen co-founder Gerry Laybourne is turning 62. Boston Celtics star Kevin Garnett is turning turns 33. Pete Townshend of The Who is 64. And Grace Jones celebrates her 61st birthday today.
We hope you're satisfied, Nora Ephron: Because of romantic comedies, people have unrealistic and unhealthy expectations of their own love lives, according to a new study. Films like Sleepless in Seattle and Serendipity promote the idea of a perfect love that's fated to happen, in contrast to real life, where apparently the universe doesn't conspire to bring two wholesome and lovelorn individuals together after a variety of amusing mishaps culminating in a run through the rain/car chase to the airport. "If you think that's how things are," says Dr. Bjarne Holmes, who led the study, "you are setting yourself up to be disappointed." Although not quite as disappointed, perhaps, as the teenage Twilight fans destined never to find a boyfriend who can fly and live forever.
Actresses always think they're so smart after they've read a book or two—usually on spirituality or something. We think the annoyingly sunny Jennifer Love Hewitt must be reading Nora Ephron right now, because she's (unconsciously?) passing off Ephron's wit and wisdom as her own. Check out their lookalike quotes: Hewitt recently told Health magazine, ""I wish I had been nude from the time I was 12 until I was 28...."
1) Piaget launched its new Limelight Paris-New York Collection last night with a party at The Loft & Garden at Rockefeller Center, where Leighton Meester and Emmy Rossum (left) mingled with Liv Tyler, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Becki Newton, Mena Suvari, Joe Zee, Lisa Anastos, Lydia Fenet, Allison Aston, Adam Lippes, Roopal Patel, Zoe Kravitz, Philippe Leopold-Metzger, Geoffrey Bradfield, Gillian Miniter, Kate Schelter, Meredith Melling Burke, and Paul Sevigny. [FWD, PMc]
The woman behind When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and Julie & Julia, screenwriter/director Nora Ephron is the queen of the late 20th century rom-com.
· Are things getting a little testy between Joy and Whoopi? Maybe we're reading too much into some rude interruptions and a couple of possible stink-eyes, but we could be looking at the beginning of a Hasselbeck/Rosie kind of dynamic developing on The View. It's been way too long since blood has been spilled on that set.
· It took much longer than we anticipated for Bobby Brown's heart to break after losing Whitney.
· Esquire names its Sexiest Woman Alive (Until Next Year), prompting Maxim to retaliate in a rather uncharitable fashion.
· Nora Ephon has made us rethink everything we thought we knew about egg-white omelets.
· NBC's perfect storm never mises a chance to work a party.
By now you're aware of the tragic news that Rosie O'Donnell will not return to "The View" after her recent altercation with co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck. But this weekend Ro took to her blog to explain her relationship with the loopy Christ-lover. What was it like behind the scenes? You'll be shocked to learn that all was not daffodils and flowers. We are digging the bandana, though. Also, Nora Ephron WTF?
Wynn-Picasso leak update: After favorite suspect Jacob Bernstein came forward to say it was actually his poker- and punk-playing brother Max (pictured) that their mother Nora Ephron had told about Steve Wynn poking his Picasso, we added Max to the suspect poll. This cleverly spread out the Bernstein suspicion among the two brothers, leading to Barbara Walters taking the lead. Now Max writes in to defend himself as well, and he brings a new character into the scenario — Arianna Huffington:
Yesterday, we expressed curiosity as to who might have leaked the story about Vegas casino boss Steve Wynn damaging his $139 million Picasso right before selling it. Witness to the event Nora Ephron claimed it was "very clear" who talked to Page Six, but she did not ID the leaker by name. We have our suspicions, and we admit to throwing out another Ephron quote a little disingenuously — the one where she told one of her sons about it, but that it wasn't a violation of the secrecy pact because her son is "completely trustworthy."
