Ismail Merchant Biography

Ismail Merchant

Already a successful producer of short films, Merchant teamed up with James Ivory in 1961 to form Merchant-Ivory Productions, a name now synonymous with high-quality filmmaking. Among their masterpieces, A Room with a View (1985) won critical and popular acclaim, earning three Academy Awards. Howards End (1992) matched this achievement, winning three more. The Remains of the Day (1993) was also much admired. Novelist Ruth Prawer Jhabvala often wrote screenplays for Merchant-Ivory.