'When Harry Met Sally' Stars Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher Pay Tribute to Nora Ephron

When Harry Met Sally stars Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan and Carrie Fisher are paying their respects to Nora Ephron, who died Tuesday at age 71 after a battle with leukemia.

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Ephron wrote the screenplay for the 1989 movie, which centered on a man (Crystal) and woman (Meg Ryan) who become friends and don't realize they are meant to be together until years later.

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Ephron earned an Oscar nom for the screenplay, which included the famous line "I'll have what she's having."

After news of her death broke, Crystal, Ryan and Fisher issued statements praising Ephron.

"I am very sad to learn of Nora's passing," Crystal said. "She was a brilliant writer and humorist. Being her Harry to Meg's Sally will always have a special place in my heart. I was very lucky to get to say her words."

Ryan, who also starred in the Ephron-directed Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail, said, "Nora was an era. We pictured ourselves inside her dreams, and they became ours. All wisdom, wit and sparkle lights, what a treat she was, what a blessing. I marvel again and again, what a life... To have created a simple happiness in people, to have added to the sum of delight in the world.

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Fisher, meanwhile, co-starred alongside the late Bruno Kirby as Harry and Sally's best friends Marie and Jess, who also become romantically involved during the course of the movie.

For her part, Fisher called Ephron "my ideal."

"In a world where we're told that you can't have it all, Nora consistently proved that adage wrong," she said. "A writer, director, wife, mother, chef, wit -- there didn't seem to be anything she couldn't do. And not just do it, but excel at it, revolutionize it, set the bar for every other screenwriter, novelist, director. She was inspiring, intimidating, and insightful. She was so, so alive. It makes no sense to me that she isn't anymore."  

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In addition to When Harry Met Sally, Ephron's credits include Heartburn, Silkwood, Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail and Julie & Julia.