The Morning Nora Ephron Captivated Me


At an event run by Syracuse University's Newhouse school of communications, Nora Ephron, who passed away last night at the age of 71, sat on stage with New Yorker writer Ken Auletta, actress Anne Hathaway, and an executive from, I believe, Sony pictures.

Auletta is eloquent and charming, Hathaway is wonderful and stunning, but it was Ephron whose charisma, charm, humor and biting but not cruel wit held the room. Every time she opened her mouth to speak, I found myself leaning forward, smiling, nodding, completely engaged by how she could be so frank and poetic at once. One line that sticks in my head: referring to the absurdity she found in the lavish lifestyles of Hollywood execs, she talked of them living "like pashas." (And this from someone who earned much of her living through the graces of those execs.)

The The New Yorker (with which I have no affiliation -- though I am a friendly acquaintance of Auletta) has the audio here.

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