In brief
Phoebe Ephron (née Wolkind; January 26, 1914 – October 13, 1971) was an American playwright and screenwriter renowned for her witty comedies and adaptations created in collaboration with her husband, Henry Ephron. Born in the Bronx, New York, to Jewish parents Louis and Kate Wolkind, she graduated from Hunter College in 1935 and balanced a demanding career with raising four daughters—all of whom later became professional writers—while drawing inspiration from family life for her work.
Ephron met Henry Ephron in 1933 while both were counselors at a summer camp, and they married the following year, beginning a lifelong creative and personal partnership. After early struggles in New York, the couple relocated to California in the 1940s, where they transitioned from Broadway to Hollywood screenwriting, working for studios like Warner Bros. and 20th Century-Fox. Their breakthrough came with the 1943 Broadway play Three’s a Family, a domestic comedy loosely based on their experiences raising daughter Nora, which enjoyed a successful run of 497 performances.
Phoebe Ephron, born Phoebe Wolkind, entered the world on January 26, 1914, in the Bronx section of New York City. Her father, Louis Wolkind, was a dress manufacturer who had immigrated from Russia, and her mother was Kate Lautkin Wolkind. The family, which included one brother named Harold, was part of New York's Jewish community, shaped by the waves of Eastern European Jewish immigrants arriving in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
