James Ivory
(1928 - )
Biography from Baseline's Encyclopedia of Film
Occupation: Director
Also: Screenwriter
Born: June 7, 1928, Berkeley, CA
Education:
University of Oregon (fine arts); USC (film)
Ivory began his career as a documentary filmmaker before teaming up with producer
Ismail
Merchant to make
The Householder (1963). Based on a novel by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala,
the film marked the first of the trio's features centering on the people and culture of India.
The team's second effort,
Shakespeare Wallah (1965), attracted international attention for
its sensitive portrayal of a family of British touring actors and its insights into the legacy of
colonialism. Merchant and Ivory went on to earn a reputation for quality films made on
shoestring budgets, with their best work—heavily influenced by Satyajit Ray examining the interplay between different cultures (
Bombay Talkie, 1970;
Heat and Dust, 1983) .
Merchant, Ivory and Jhabvala are also known for their adaptations of literary classics.
The Europeans (1979) and
The Bostonians (1984) are highly regarded translations of the
works of Henry James;
A Room With a View (1985), adapted from the novel by
E.M. Forster, was a huge success with both critics and public, earning eight Oscar
nominations and taking in approximately $20 million at the box office. Ivory's shift to
more contemporary ground, however, with an adaptation of Tama Janowitz's novel
Slaves of New York (1989), was ill-conceived and unsatisfying. Praised throughout
the film industry for the efficient organization of their productions, the Merchant-Ivory team
returned to top form with their most recent succession of highly acclaimed films,
beginning with
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990). Their second adaptation of an E.M. Forster
novel was the superb
Howards End (1992), which won three Oscars (out of nine
nominations) for Best Actress (
Emma Thompson), Best Adapted Screenplay and Best
Art Direction. After the similarly impressive success
The Remains of the Day (1993),
adapted by Jhabvala from the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, the Merchant-Ivory team began
work on
Jefferson in Paris, the first film in their exclusive co-production partnership with
the Walt Disney studio—an arrangement that allowed wider distribution of Merchant-Ivory
films while retaining the team's complete creative control over their work.
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