CNN -- Famed screenwriter and actress Nora Ephron has died at the age of 71, The New York Times reports.
Ephron's son Jacob Bernstein told the Times the cause of death was pneumonia brought on by acute myeloid leukemia.
Ephron made her mark on cinema by creating strong female characters in her films "Silkwood," "When Harry Met Sally" and "Sleepless in Seattle," a romantic comedy she directed and co-wrote with sister Delia Ephron, all of which earned Oscar nominations for screenwriting.
Ephron also wrote and directed "Julie & Julia," which earned Meryl Streep a best actress Oscar nomination in 2010.
Ephron's parents, Henry and Phoebe Ephron, were also screenwriters, with "Carousel," "Desk Set" and "There's No Business Like Show Business" on their resumes.
"They were funny, and they believed that everything was copy," Ephron said in a CNN interview in 2009. "They believed that anything in life could be turned into a story, which is really the first rule of humor."
Ephron's life was particularly central to her father's memoir, "We Thought We Could Do Anything."
Humor was important for surviving her childhood, she said.
"I don't think you can get through almost anything without humor," she said.
She married screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi in 1987, eight years after she divorced investigative reporter Carl Bernstrein.
The destruction of her marriage to Bernstein was the basis of her book and movie "Heartburn."
"And I feel bad for the people who don't at some point understand that there's something funny in even the worst things that can happen to you," Ephron said.
