Rita Wilson takes a page out of Nora Ephron’s cookbook every year.
At the Academy Women’s Luncheon, hosted by Chanel and held at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles on Thursday, the 67-year-old actress revealed that Ephron’s influence on her life extends beyond the big screen — and into the kitchen.
At the event, Wilson told PEOPLE that when it comes to her family’s Thanksgiving meal, she cooks “the whole thing” — and revealed that she got one of her signature dishes from When Harry met Sally the creator, who died in 2012 at the age of 71.
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“It’s always the same and I love it. It’s a family. I cook everything… It’s just really nice to have free time and be together,” she says, adding that one of her favorite dishes is a “Nora Ephron recipe.”
Dish? “Orange sweet potatoes,” Wilson reveals.
“Not sweet potatoes – sweet potatoes,” she clarifies. “They are a different matter.”
At the event in LA, which focused on emerging female filmmakers, The Sleepless in Seattle the actress (who is married to Ephron’s muse Tom Hanks) also revealed that the legendary screenwriter is — “without a doubt” — her biggest female supporter.
“She saw in me that I am an actress who can do comedies. She saw in me that I could write,” says Wilson, adding that Ephron “said amazing things.”
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“She came to my first music show ever and said, ‘Keep doing it,’” Wilson continues. “And she wasn’t like saccharine candy, like, ‘Oh, just you, girl, baby.’ She said, ‘No, you do it and you can do it.'”
Rita Wilson and Nora Ephron in 1997.
Ron Galella, Ltd./Collection of Ron Galella via Getty
In an interview with S. 2021 Diversitythe actress revealed how important Ephron was to her career and that the journalist and filmmaker is her mentor.
When asked about the crowning moment of her career, Wilson said, “I think Nora Ephron builds me up Awakeand then in Mixed nuts. And then again in the plays she did.”
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“Nora was the first time I had a mentor, someone who could say, “Here’s how you do it. I think you have something and let’s work together,’ she told the newspaper, adding that Ephron had ‘done that many times during our friendship.’
Wilson continued, “My mom was Greek. My dad was Bulgarian. They were immigrants. I was a first generation American. No one was in business. I’ve never had anyone say, ‘Here’s how you do it,’ until Nora.”
After Ephron’s death in 2012, Wilson opened up about her longtime friendship with You have mail director in an article she wrote for HuffPost.
In a heartfelt tribute, Wilson wrote that Ephron was “a unique woman and an extraordinary talent.”
“We all know that,” she said. “She was also one of a kind friend. An extraordinary friend.”
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The actress also shared details about the rom-com icon’s food philosophies — and how they influenced hers: “She believed that good food made for a happier cast and crew. She was right,” Wilson wrote.
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“Nora celebrated life to an insatiable degree, but without any of the manic energy associated with people who have ‘voracious appetites’ for life,” she continued. “She had a calm and elegant way of enjoying every moment.”
Wilson also wrote that the director’s dinners were “a recipe for joy: part salon, part celebration, part Nora’s own cooking, part ready meals.”
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Source: HIS Education