Born June 7, 1928 in Berkeley, California, the son of a sawmill operator and his wife, James Ivory grew up in Klamath Falls, Oregon. He attended the University of Oregon from which he received a degree in fine arts in 1951. He then attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts where he directed the 1953 short, Four in the Morning. He directed several more non-theatrical shorts, meeting producer Ishmael Merchant at a 1959 screening of one of them.
Merchant and Ivory formed a professional and romantic relationship that lasted until Ivoryโs death in 2005. Their writing partner was Ruthe Prawer Jhabvala with whom they made 22 of the 40 films they produced, of which Ivory directed 30.
The early Merchant-Ivory films including Shakespeare-Wallah and Bombay Talkie mostly took place took place in India. 1977โs Roseland took place entirely in New Yorkโs famed dance palace. Their next several films including their 1979 version of Henry Jamesโ The Europeans and their 1981 film of Jean Rhysโ Quartet were modest successes. 1983โs Heat and Dust, with an original screenplay by Jbabvala, took place in India in the then present and in flashbacks to the 1920s. Their 1984 film of Henry Jamesโ The Bostonians received Oscar nominations for Best Actress Vanessa Redgrave and the filmโs costume design.
Merchant-Ivoryโs 1986 film of E.M. Forsterโs A Room with a View won Oscars for Jhabvalaโs adapted screenplay and for the filmโs art direction-set decoration and costume design. It also earned Ivory his first nomination for direction, as well as nods for the filmโs cinematography and the supporting performances of Maggie Smith and Denholm Elliott.
Their 1987 film of Forsterโs posthumously publishedMaurice won Venice Film Festival awards for Ivory for his direction, as well as for its score and the lead performances of James Wilby and Hugh Grant. Its only Oscar nomination, though, was for its costume design.
Their 1990 film of Evan S. Connellโs novel, Mr. & Mrs. Bridge won New York Film Critics Awards for Jhabvalaโs screenplay as well as Best Actress Joanne Woodward. Woodward, who also won Best Actress awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics and National Society of Film Critics as well as her fourth Oscar nomination.
It was back to Forster for 1992โs Howards End which received nine Oscar nominations include Best Picture for Merchant and Best Director for Ivory. Jhabvala won for her screenplay. Emma Thompson won for Best Actress, as did the filmโs art direction โ set decoration. The film was also nominated for its cinematography, costume design, score and Best Supporting Actress Vanessa Redgrave.
1993โs The Remains of the Day for which Ivory received his third Oscar nomination, was based on the novel of Kazuo Ishiguro. It earned a total of eight nominations, but no awards. Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson were nominated for their performances and Jbabvala was nominated for her screenplay.
Subsequent directorial efforts were not nearly as successful, but with 2017โs Call Me by Your Name Ivory finally became an Oscar winner for his screenplay, making him the oldest recipient of a competitive Oscar in the history of the awards at 89.
ESSENTIAL FILMS
A ROOM WITH A VIEW (1986), directed by James Ivory
Two years after David Lean made an award-wining film from E.M. Forsterโs 1924 novel, A Passage to India, Merchant-Ivory made an even more awarded film from Forsterโs 1908 novel, A Room with a View. If Oscar was kind, and it was, BAFTA was even kinder, giving it 14 nominations and five wins for Best Film, Actress Maggie Smith, Supporting Actress Judi Dench, Costume Design and Production Design. The other nominations were for Best Director, Supporting Actors Denholm Elliott and Simon Callow, Supporting Actress Rosemary Leach, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Score and Sound.
MAURICE (1987), directed by James Ivory
Written in 1913-14, but not published until after Forsterโs death in 1971, Maurice is a homosexual love story set against the oppressiveness of Edwardian society based in part on Forsterโs struggles with his ow homosexuality. James Wilby as the middle-class romantic Maurice, Hugh Grant as his upper-crust lover Clive who spurns him and Rupert Graves as Scudder, Cliveโs under-gamekeeper who loves Maurice unconditionally. The supporting cast includes Billie Whitelaw as Mauriceโs mother, Judy Parfitt as Cliveโs mother and Phoebe Nicholls as Cliveโs wife. Denholm Elliott, Simon Callow and Ben Kingsley have cameos.
HOWARDS END (1992), directed by James Ivory
Somewhat less awarded than Forsterโs A Room with a View, but now generally considered the finest Merchant-Ivory production overall, this film of Forsterโs 1910 novel is more richly detailed with Emma Thompson in a heartrending performance that swept the yearโs awards for Best Actress as one of two sisters who inherits the titled piece of property. Nine Oscar nominations and two wins and eleven BAFTA nominations and two wins included a Best Picture win from BAFTA and Best Screenplay from Oscar. Oscar nominated Vanessa Redgrave while BAFTA nominated Helena Bonham Carter and Samuel West in support.
THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (1993), directed by James Ivory
Emma Thompson and her Howards End co-star Anthony Hopkins were both nominated for their performances in this beautifully structured film in which Hopkins plays a butler who realizes too late that his loyalty to his lordly employer was misplaced. Thompson is the housekeeper who gets away. James Fox and Christopher Reeve have key supporting roles. The film earned eight Oscar nominations but no wins and six BAFTA nominations and one win for Hopkinsโ performance. Author Kazuo Ishiguroโs later novel, Never Let Me Know was made into a hit 2010 film and a 2016 mini-series.
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (2017), directed by Luca Guadagnino
Ivoryโs sensitive screenplay from Andrรฉ Acimanโs acclaimed novel of the same name finally won him an Oscar of his own, albeit for that screenplay rather than for direction. Producer Ivory stepped aside so that the film could be directed by Luca Guadagnino, the Italian director of I Am Love and A Bigger Splash. Oscar nominations also included those for Best Picture, Actor Timothรฉe Chalamet and Best Song (โMystery of Loveโ). Other awards bodies also recognized Armie Hammer as Chalametโs summertime lover and Michael Stuhlbarg as his supportive father.
JAMES IVORY AND OSCAR
- A Room with a View (1986) โ nominated โ Best Director
- Howards End (1992) โ nominated โ Best Director
- The Remains of the Day (1993) โ nominated โ Best Director
- Call Me by Your Name (2017) โ Oscar – Best Adapted Screenplay
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