Ivory, James

James Francis Ivory (born Richard Jerome Hazen; June 7, 1928) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a principal in Merchant Ivory Productions along with Indian film producer Ismail Merchant (his domestic and professional partner) and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. The trio made film adaptations of stories by authors such as E.M. Forster and Henry James. Their body of work is celebrated for its elegance, sophistication, literary fidelity, strong performances, complex themes, and rich characters. Merchant–Ivory was established in 1961 in India where they made modestly budgeted films including The Householder (1963), Shakespeare Wallah (1965), and Bombay Talkie (1970). Ivory began adapting films from classic novels such as The Europeans (1979), Quartet (1981), Heat and Dust (1983), The Bostonians (1984), Maurice (1987), and Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990). During this period he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for A Room with a View (1985), Howards End (1992), and The Remains of the Day (1993). At the age of 89, Ivory won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for his work on Luca Guadagnino's Call Me by Your Name (2017), becoming the oldest competitive Academy Award winner. Ivory's accolades also include three BAFTAs, and a Writers Guild of America Award as well as nominations for three Golden Globe Awards. He received the Directors Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. Ivory released his autobiography Solid Ivory: Memoirs (2021) and directed the documentary A Cooler Climate (2022).