[10] As a high school student, Ephron dreamed of going to New York City to become another Dorothy Parker, an American poet, writer, satirist, and critic.

[15] 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.

[10] In this position, Ephron made a name for herself by writing "A Few Words About Breasts", a humorous essay about body image that "established her as the enfant terrible of the New Journalism".

[18] 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".

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.

[11] In the film, Ephron's fictionalized portrayal of herself, played by Streep, is a pregnant food writer who learns about her husband's affair.

[11] The film has become iconic in the romantic comedy genre, most notably for the scene in which Sally pretends to have an orgasm in the middle of Katz's Deli during lunch.

[11] The film is about a woman who decides to pursue a career in stand-up comedy after inheriting a substantial sum of money from a relative.

[11] In a conversation released by Criterion Channel between Lena Dunham, and Ephron, she stated "That movie I made completely for Woody Allen."

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.

[25] That year, she directed the dark Christmas comedy Mixed Nuts (1994) which starred Steve Martin, Madeline Kahn, Rita Wilson, Rob Reiner and Adam Sandler.

She then directed the comedy fantasy film Michael (1996) starring John Travolta, Andie MacDowell and William Hurt.

[11] You've Got Mail stars Meg Ryan as Kathleen Kelly, an owner of a small, independent children's bookstore in New York City.

Ephron's play Imaginary Friends (2002) explores the rivalry between writers Lillian Hellman and Mary McCarthy.

As Powell blogs her experience, the film flashes back to the story of Child's first stages of her career as she trains in a French culinary school.

Alexis Soloski of The Guardian praised the production and Ephron's writing declaring, "She has a lively sense of the caffeine-addled cut and thrust of newsroom life, and can make you very nearly weepy for the past triumphs of the tabs, even as she shows what a closed, testosterone-heavy world they occupied".

Ephron was inspired by the affair to write the novel Heartburn (1983),[34] which was then made into a 1986 Mike Nichols film starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep.

[39] For many years, Ephron was one of the very few people who knew the identity of Deep Throat, the anonymous informer for articles written by her ex-husband Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward uncovering the Watergate scandal.

'"[10] Classmates of Jacob at the Dalton School and Vassar College recall him revealing to numerous people that Felt was Deep Throat.

[43] On June 26, 2012, Ephron died at Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan from pneumonia, as a complication of leukemia, at the age of 71.

[6] Ephron's memorial service, called A Gathering for Nora, was held at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City.

The invitation-only event was attended by actors Alan Alda, Lauren Bacall, Christine Baranski, Annette Bening, Candice Bergen, Matthew Broderick, Sally Field, Jon Hamm, Tom Hanks, Joel Grey, Nicole Kidman, Shirley MacLaine, Bette Midler, Meg Ryan, Meryl Streep, comedians Joy Behar, Billy Crystal, Larry David, Steve Martin, Rosie O'Donnell, Martin Short, directors Woody Allen, James L. Brooks, Stanley Donen, Ron Howard, Elaine May, Mike Nichols, Rob Reiner, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, singer Paul Simon, Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, activist Larry Kramer, Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, columnist Frank Rich, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, talk show host Regis Philbin, playwright Tony Kushner, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Senator Al Franken, and journalists Carl Bernstein, Ben Bradlee, Tom Brokaw, Gayle King, Charlie Rose, Diane Sawyer, and Barbara Walters, among others.

[44][45][46] At that year's Karlovy Vary Film Festival, the lifetime achievement award honorees Helen Mirren and Susan Sarandon paid tribute to Ephron during their acceptance speeches.

[48][49] The Nora Ephron Prize is a $25,000 award by the Tribeca Film Festival for a female writer or filmmaker "with a distinctive voice".