Martin Short, Meryl Streep pay tribute to Nora Ephron

Canadian comedian Martin Short, Sleepless in Seattle star Tom Hanks and Julie & Julia's Meryl Streep paid tribute to writer and filmmaker Nora Ephron at a special memorial in New York on Monday.

Ephron — a journalist, writer, director and author — died of pneumonia in June, after a battle with leukemia. She was 71.

About 800 friends and family were invited to New York's Lincoln Center for the private service, which Ephron had planned herself before her death by choosing the speakers and leaving instructions in a folder labelled "exit."

Short was the first speaker to take the stage and said Ephron's son, Jacob Bernstein, had given him the following instruction: "Don't be afraid to be funny."

"I believe that when people pass, they zoom into the people that love them the most. So, if that's the case, then all of us here have a piece of Nora," Short told those gathered for the ceremony.

"That's the way it should be, because life would just seem all too mundane without her. And if she's a part of us, we must be more like her. Read everything, savour everything, talk to the person on your left, embrace laughter like it's a drug, drink more pink champagne and, yes, brush up your style."

Humour and recipes

Ephron's writing, directing and producing credits include favourites like Julie & Julia, When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. She was remembered on Monday for her firm friendships, sense of humour and recipes, including one for the coconut macaroons on the memorial’s order of service. 

'How do you talk about a friend who said everything you wished you could say, everything you wanted to say in the world, but better and shorter and funnier?' —Meryl Streep

Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson performed a "he-said, she-said" skit depicting an average night between Ephron and Nick Pileggi, her husband of 28 years.

Ephron was previously married to journalist Carl Bernstein, a relationship she wrote about in her book and film Heartburn. 

Other speakers included her sister Delia, son Jacob, director-producer Mike Nichols, actress Rosie O'Donnell and Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen.

O’Donnell read from Love, Loss and What I Wore, the stage play Ephron and her sister adapted to showcase actresses of a certain age.

Always the funny one

Oscar-winner Streep, who was a regular collaborator who starred in a trio of Ephron's movies, said the filmmaker was the one she turned to whenever she needed some jokes or advice on how to give a speech.

"How do you talk about a friend who said everything you wished you could say, everything you wanted to say in the world, but better and shorter and funnier?" Streep asked.

"Sometimes you have to wait until your friend leaves the room to say how great she is," the actress continued, "because she absolutely would never put up with any of this if she were within earshot."

The memorial's final speaker was J.J. Sacha, who had been Ephron’s personal assistant. He introduced highlights from her movies, saying: "She was proud of her work, and so she should be."

The event was filled with Ephron’s friends from New York and Hollywood, including actors Meg Ryan, Steve Martin, Matthew Broderick and Sally Field, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, television journalist Barbara Walters, publisher Arianna Huffington, filmmaker Steven Spielberg and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.