By Shaunna Murphy, Hollywood.com Staff

While fans began mourning Nora Ephron's passing Tuesday — the beloved writer-director died at 71 years old following a battle with cancer — famous friends and co-workers have started paying tribute to the late Ephron. Billy Crystal, Meryl Streep, and more have released statements to Hollywood.com regarding the iconic voice. See below to read their tributes.

Billy Crystal, who starred in When Harry Met Sally: ""I am very sad to learn of Nora's passing. 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.""

Meryl Streep, who starred in Julie & Julia, Silkwood, and Heartburn: ""Nora was a person whose gifts of mind, amply displayed as a young person in her sharply observed journalistic pieces and in her personal wit, were, when I first met her, kind of scary,"" Streep says. ""Aimed and airy at the same time, an insouciant sharpness that could be intimidating, because you could never catch her 'trying', everything seemed effortless. But as I got to know her, I understood what drove her was her acute curiosity, and her desire to observe and find out stuff. It's what made her great as a journalist, and as a director, too.. She thought fast, loved new ideas, processed swiftly, decided what was valuable and what was not with clarity. It's hard to credit how very smart she was, cause she was always deflectively feminine and funny, the sharpness of mind softened and smoothed by genuine charm.""

Rosie O'Donnell, who starred in Sleepless in Seattle: ""I am devastated. Nora was a close friend and will be missed terribly.""

Stanley Tucci, who starred in Julie & Julia: ""She was incredibly talented. She was a great friend. This is a great loss.""

Follow Shaunna on Twitter @HWShaunna

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