James Ivory Biography (1928-)

Full name, James Francis Ivory; born June 7, 1928, in Berkeley, CA; son of Edward Patrick (a sawmill operator) and Hallie Millicent (maiden name, De Loney) Ivory; companion of Ismail Merchant (a producer and director). Addresses: Office: Merchant-Ivory Productions, 250 West 57th St., Suite 1825, NewYork, NY 10107.; Agent: Rand Holston, Creative Artists Agency, 9830 WilshireBlvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

Nationality: American
Gender: Male
Occupation: Director, producer, writer
Birth Details: June 7, 1928; Berkeley, California, United States

Famous Works

CREDITS
Film Work
Director, producer, and cinematographer, Venice: Theme and Variations (short documentary), New Yorker, 1957
Director, producer, cinematographer, and editor, The Sword and the Flute (short documentary), 1959
Director, The Householder (also known as Gharbar), Royal Productions, 1963
Director, producer, and cinematographer, The Delhi Way (documentary), 1964
Director, Shakespeare Wallah, Continental Distributing, 1965
Director, The Guru, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1968
Director, Bombay Talkie, Merchant-Ivory, 1970
Director and (with Ismail Merchant) producer, Savages, Angelika, 1972
Producer, Helen, Queen of the Nautch Girls (short film), New Yorker, 1973
Director, The Wild Party, American International Pictures, 1975
(With Merchant) Producer, Sweet Sounds, 1976
Director, Roseland, Cinema Shares, 1977
Director, The Europeans, Levitt-Pickman, 1979
Director, Quartet, New World Pictures, 1981
Director and performer on tampura, Heat and Dust, Universal, 1983
(With Merchant and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala) Producer, The Courtesans of Bombay (documentary), New Yorker, 1983
Director, The Bostonians, Almi, 1984
Director, A Room with a View, Cinecom International, 1986
(With Ermanno Olmi) Director, Maurice, Cinecom International, 1987
Director, Slaves of New York, TriStar, 1989
Director, Mr. & Mrs. Bridge, Miramax, 1990
Director, Howards End, Sony Picture Classics, 1992
Director, The Remains of the Day, Columbia, 1993
Director, Jefferson in Paris (also known as Jefferson a Paris), Buena Vista, 1995
(With Merchant) Director, Lumiere et compagnie (also known as Lumiere and Company and Lumiere y compania), Alta Films/Pierre Grise Distribution, 1995

Director, Surviving Picasso, Warner Bros., 1996
Director, A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (also known as La fille d'un soldat ne pleure jamais), October Films, 1998
Director, The Golden Bowl (also known as La coupe d'or), Lions Gate Films, 2001
Director and producer, Le divorce, Fox Searchlight, 2003
Film Appearances
Man in warehouse, The Europeans, Levitt-Pickman, 1979
Television Work
Specials
Director, Adventures of a Brown Man in Search of Civilization (documentary), BBC (England), 1971
(With Ismail Merchant) Producer, Mahatma and the Mad Boy, 1973
Director, The Autobiography of a Princess, BBC, 1975
Director, Hullabaloo over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures, ITV (England), 1978
Director, "The Five Forty Eight" (also known as "The 5:48"), 3 by Cheever, 1979
Director, Jane Austen in Manhattan, ITV, 1980
(With Merchant) Executive producer, "Noon Wine," American Playhouse, PBS, 1985
RECORDINGS
Albums
Participated in the recording Merchant Ivory Productions: 25th Anniversary, 1962-1987, 1988.
WRITINGS
Films
Venice: Theme and Variations (documentary), New Yorker, 1957
The Sword and the Flute (documentary), 1959
The Delhi Way (documentary), 1964
(With Ruth Prawer Jhabvala) Shakespeare Wallah, Continental Distributing, 1965, published by Grove (New York City), 1973
(With Jhabvala) The Guru, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1968
(With Jhabvala) Bombay Talkie, Merchant-Ivory, 1970
Savages, Angelika, 1972, published by Grove, 1973
Helen, Queen of the Nautch Girls (short film), New Yorker, 1973
(With Jhabvala) The Europeans (based on the novel by Henry James),Levitt-Pickman, 1979
(With Jhabvala) Quartet (based on the novel by Jean Rhys), New World Pictures, 1981
(With Kit Hesketh-Harvey) Maurice (based on the novel by E. M. Forster), Cinecom International, 1987
(With Jhabvala) A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (based on a novelby Kaylie Jones; also known as La fille d'un soldat ne pleure jamais), October Films, 1998
(With Jhabvala) Le divorce, Fox Searchlight, 2003
Television Specials
Adventures of a Brown Man in Search of Civilization (documentary),BBC (England), 1971
Other
(Editor) Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, The Autobiography of a Princess: Also Being the Adventures of an American Film Director in the Land of the Maharajahs, Harper (New York City), 1975
Contributor to books, including John Pym's The Wandering Company: Twenty-One Years of Merchant Ivory Films, Museum of Modern Art (New York City), 1983. Contributor to periodicals.

Further Reference

OTHER SOURCES

Books

Contemporary Authors, Volume 139, Gale, 1993
Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement, Volume 20, Gale, 2000
International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Volume 2: Directors, St. James Press, 1996
Long, Robert Emmet, The Films of Merchant Ivory, Harry N. Abrams (New York City), 1997
Pym, John, The Wandering Company: Twenty-One Years of Merchant Ivory Films, Museum of Modern Art (New York City), 1983

Periodicals

American Cinematographer, November, 1993, p. 52
American Film, February, 1987, pp. 13, 54
Biography, November, 1998
Commonweal, February 8, 1991, p. 100
Interview, November, 1990, p. 128
Nation, April 27, 1992, p. 570
New Republic, December 24, 1990, p. 26
Newsweek, March 10, 1986, p. 74
New York, October 5, 1987, pp. 62, 66
New Yorker, December 3, 1990, p. 170; May 4, 1992, p. 74
People, October 26, 1987
Smithsonian, March, 1995, p. 94
Time, March 16, 1992, p. 72

Electronic

Merchant-Ivory, http://www.merchantivory.com, December 22, 2002

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