Ismail Merchant

Producer. Born 25 December 1936 in Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India. Died 25 May 2005.

Titles on Fi1m

Average Fi1m score

Born

25 December 1936, Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India

Died

25 May 2005

Active

1992–1993

Frequent collaborators

Andrew Marcus, James Ivory, Jenny Beavan, John Bright, Luciana Arrighi, Richard Robbins

Biography

Ismail Merchant was an Indian film producer and occasional director. He formed Merchant Ivory Productions in 1961 with director James Ivory, with whom he maintained a long-term professional and personal partnership; screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala wrote most of their films.

Merchant produced literary adaptations including A Room with a View (1985), Maurice (1987), Howards End (1992) and The Remains of the Day (1993). The team received multiple Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and won six Oscars in total; Merchant won BAFTA Awards for Best Film for A Room with a View and Howards End.

He was educated at the University of Bombay and New York University. Merchant died in 2005.

Compiled from published sources (en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com) · 13 September 2026How we write and check

Films and series

Beyond what we have reviewed, Ismail Merchant is known for A Room with a View (1986), Maurice (1987), Le Divorce (2003), Surviving Picasso (1996), The White Countess (2005), Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990), Lumière & Company (1995) and The Golden Bowl (2000).

The Remains of the Day

1993 · Producer

Howards End

1992 · Producer