Nora Ephron - Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks Attend Nora Ephron Memorial In New York

The comedian Martin Short also attended and was the first to take to the stage. He revealed that Ephron's son Jacob Bernstein had offered him some words of advice, before he addressed those gathered in memory of Nora: "Don't be afraid to be funny." 800 mourners were present for the remembrance ceremony, which began to the strains of Frank Sinatra singing 'I've Got the World on a String.' Ephron had planned much of the ceremony herself, before she died of leukaemia on June 26 this year. The director Mike Nichols revealed, in an interview with the New York Daily News that she had instructed that "all of us be finished in under 47 minutes." She left all instructions for the memorial service in a folder marked 'exit.'

Among the speakers were the Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep, Nora's sister Delia Ephron and Jacob himself, who writes for The Daily Beast. He described his mother as "my best friend, my biggest cheerleader, and a total drill sergeant, which is basically what a great parent is supposed to be."