Henry Ephron

Henry Ephron (May 26, 1911 – September 6, 1992) was an American playwright, screenwriter, film producer, and Broadway performer born in the Bronx, New York. His father, Yitzhak Asher "Isaac" Ephron, was a retailer who had emigrated from Grodno, in present-day Belarus, and his mother, Gittle "Gussie" Ephron (née Weinstein), came from Skidzyelʹ, also in present-day Belarus. Both parents were Jewish immigrants.

Ephron made his Broadway debut as a performer in 1934 and went on to contribute to the stage as a book writer. His Broadway credits include the comedy Three's a Family, as well as My Daughter, Your Son, Take Her, She's Mine, and Merrily We Roll Along. Take Her, She's Mine, which originated as a Broadway play, was subsequently adapted into a film and later developed into an unsold ABC television comedy series with Van Johnson starring in the pilot.

Much of Ephron's writing career unfolded in collaboration with his first wife, Phoebe (née Wolkind), and spanned from the early 1940s through the early 1960s. Together they wrote the screenplays for a number of films, including Three Is a Family (1944), Bride by Mistake (1944), Belles on Their Toes (1952), What Price Glory (1952), There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), Daddy Long Legs (1955), and Desk Set (1957). Ephron also served as producer on both Carousel (1956) and Desk Set (1957). The screenplay for Captain Newman, M.D. (1963) earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium. In 1977, Ephron published an autobiography titled We Thought We Could Do Anything.

His four daughters with Phoebe — Nora Ephron, Delia Ephron, Hallie Ephron, and Amy Ephron — each became notable writers. In 1978, Ephron married his second wife, June (née Gilmartin; July 6, 1911 – November 13, 1996), who was the widow of Oscar Levant. June was herself one of four sisters. Ephron died of natural causes on September 6, 1992, at the Motion Picture Hospital in Los Angeles.