Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
Liz Smith: I Don't Have An Editor So I Prematurely Announced Nora Ephron's Death
By
Jen Chung
Published Jun 27, 2012
Modified Jun 27, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Chung
Published Jun 27, 2012
Modified Jun 27, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Yesterday, famed gossip columnist Liz Smith posted an obituary for her friend, writer-director Nora Ephron, who was not dead at the time. The obituary was pulled from Wowowow.com, and hours later it was confirmed that Ephron had died of acute mykeloid leukemia. Smith discussed the mistake with CityRoom today, "I’m now famous as the person who killed Nora Ephron before she was dead."
Smith, who has known Ephron since the 1960s when they were at the NY Post, explained that she had been contacted by one of Ephron's relatives who said that Ephron was near death, "I thought Nora was dead and I didn’t want to bother the family... I made a classic mistake and the story escaped." She added, "If I had an editor or a publisher, maybe I wouldn’t have done it."
In her wowowow.com column today, Smith writes, "This is one of the saddest days of my life and when you learn that the giant satirist, writer, essayist Nora Ephron has died, as she did yesterday in New York Hospital, it should be sad for you too. Nora was the-better-than-Dorothy Parker literary genius of our times and a much finer more marvelous human being than the downbeat Dottie... Nora seemed fine when we lunched about a month ago. I knew she’d been ill but never that it was fatal. I am as shocked as anyone else. There will be a funeral tomorrow at 11:30 but I am reluctant to say where for fear there’ll be a riot. I will have to write about Nora Ephron another day but my heart goes to Nick Pileggi, Jacob and Max Bernstein and the thousands of people who adored Nora Ephron. I am just one of them."
Tagged
liz smith
no editor
nora ephron
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
How the Village Halloween Parade keeps its soul
A visit to the community-driven pre-parade puppet preparations.
By
Hannah Frishberg
Published Oct 28, 2026 at 12:38 p.m. ET
'You Can See Everything' … as long as you go to Staten Island
Nathan Fielder’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary has been selling out across Manhattan and Brooklyn. Tickets to see the film, however, are very much available in other boroughs.
By
Sonia Rao
Arts & Entertainment
'You Can See Everything' … as long as you go to Staten Island
Nathan Fielder’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary has been selling out across Manhattan and Brooklyn. Tickets to see the film, however, are very much available in other boroughs.
By
Sonia Rao
Inside the hidden chamber that controls Lincoln Center's magnificent fountain
By
Sonia Rao
In the algorithm age, NYC college radio DJs are still broadcasting the funky stuff
By
James Ramsay
A Queens prop shop shutters, bunnies find a home uptown, and more openings and closings
By
Hannah Frishberg
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .