---
name: "James Ivory"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/james-ivory"
fi1m_id: "james-ivory"
imdb_id: "nm0412465"
tmdb_id: 54441
wikidata_id: "Q51577"
roles: ["Director","Writer"]
born: "7 June 1928"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 5
average_fi1m_score: 85
average_as: "director"
average_over: 4
updated: "2026-10-05T04:24:32.538758+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# James Ivory

## Identity

James Ivory

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/james-ivory
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** james-ivory
- **IMDb ID:** nm0412465
- **TMDB ID:** 54441
- **Wikidata ID:** Q51577
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ivory, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q51577, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0412465/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/54441

Director and writer. Born 7 June 1928 in Berkeley, California, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Writer
- **Born:** 7 June 1928, Berkeley, California, USA
- **Active:** 1986–2017
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 5: 4 directing, 1 writing
- **Frequently works with:** [Ismail Merchant](https://film.one/person/ismail-merchant.md), [Ruth Prawer Jhabvala](https://film.one/person/ruth-prawer-jhabvala.md), [Anthony Hopkins](https://film.one/person/anthony-hopkins.md), [Denholm Elliott](https://film.one/person/denholm-elliott.md), [Emma Thompson](https://film.one/person/emma-thompson.md), [Helena Bonham Carter](https://film.one/person/helena-bonham-carter.md), [Hugh Grant](https://film.one/person/hugh-grant.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won · 4 nominated)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 85, as director, over 4 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 84 (2), 1990s 86 (2), 2010s 86 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 85 to 78 across 4 titles
- **Score spread:** 4 at 80+, 0 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 4, Romance 4
- **Screen time:** 9 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $73m across 4 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ivory, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q51577, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0412465/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/54441

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Howards End*](https://film.one/film/howards-end.md) (84), [*Maurice*](https://film.one/film/maurice.md) (83)
- **Disney+:** [*The Remains of the Day*](https://film.one/film/the-remains-of-the-day.md) (88)
- **HBO Max:** [*A Room with a View*](https://film.one/film/a-room-with-a-view.md) (84)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on James Ivory

> James Ivory makes period rooms inviting and watches who is allowed to feel at home in them. We value his patient attention to actors, though the polished surfaces can keep hardship at a distance.

In *Howards End* (1992), Ivory gives conversation enough time for people to reveal what they take for granted. The comfortable characters have little reason to question their good opinion of themselves, and he allows us to see why they feel entitled to it. We were moved by Emma Thompson’s warmth because it makes the effort to be kind matter in a story where money has already determined so much. He is good at showing how a social slight can hurt without making the person responsible into a convenient villain.

His early work was often set in India, before literary adaptations became increasingly prominent from the late 1970s onwards. Producer Ismail Merchant and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala were central collaborators in that career. *A Room with a View* (1985) and *Maurice* (1987) led towards *Howards End*, with *The Remains of the Day* (1993), adapted from Ishiguro, following it. Ivory’s recurring interest in outsiders found a natural home in stories about class and social constraint. Feelings held in check became as important to these films as anything their characters could bring themselves to say.

The rooms matter, and dismissing them as decoration misses what works in *Howards End*. Cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts and production designer Luciana Arrighi make this world attractive enough for us to understand why exclusion from it hurts. Yet their immaculate finish can also soften the hardship Ivory is asking us to consider. Richard Robbins’s score keeps the emotion steady, while the storytelling sometimes pauses too long and then hurries a relationship that needed more time. Ivory’s patience with actors is more dependable here than his control of the film’s pace.

Writing rather than directing *Call Me by Your Name* (2017) was a later change of role within the same practice of adapting novels. For a first encounter with Ivory as a director, though, we recommend *Howards End*. Allow for the uneven pace; Thompson and Redgrave are worth spending the time with.

## Biography

James Ivory is an American film director. Born in Berkeley, California, he studied at the University of Southern California and began his career making documentaries before forming Merchant Ivory Productions with producer Ismail Merchant in 1961.

Ivory is best known for his long collaboration with Merchant and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Their films include literary adaptations such as *A Room with a View* (1986), *Maurice* (1987), *Howards End* (1992) and *The Remains of the Day* (1993). He later wrote the screenplay for *Call Me by Your Name* (2017), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, bfi.org.uk, britannica.com.*

## On Fi1m (5)

### Directed (4) — the average rests on these

- *The Remains of the Day* (1993), Fi1m 88, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-remains-of-the-day.md)
- *Howards End* (1992), Fi1m 84, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/howards-end.md)
- *Maurice* (1987), Fi1m 83, Director, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/maurice.md)
- *A Room with a View* (1986), Fi1m 84, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/a-room-with-a-view.md)

### Wrote (1)

- *Call Me by Your Name* (2017), Fi1m 86, Producer, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/call-me-by-your-name.md)

## Complete filmography (54)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Her Song* (2026), Executive Producer
- *Merchant Ivory* (2024), Executive Producer
- *The Way It Was: Paris Restaurants in the 1970s* (2023), Executive Producer
- *A Cooler Climate* (2022), Director, Writer, Director of Photography
- *Chinese Laundry* (2022), Producer
- *The Aspern Papers* (2019), Executive Producer
- *American Marriage* (2018), Co-Writer, Executive Producer
- *Call Me by Your Name* (2017), Screenplay, Producer — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/call-me-by-your-name.md)
- *Arcadia Lost* (2010), Co-Producer
- *The City of Your Final Destination* (2009), Director
- *Zefirino: The Voice of a Castrato* (2006), as Costume Design
- *The White Countess* (2005), Director
- *Le Divorce* (2003), Director, Writer
- *The Golden Bowl* (2000), Director
- *A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries* (1998), Director, Screenplay
- *Mrs. Dalloway* (1997), Thanks
- *Surviving Picasso* (1996), Director
- *Lumière & Company* (1995), Director
- *Jefferson in Paris* (1995), Director
- *The Remains of the Day* (1993), Director — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/the-remains-of-the-day.md)
- *Howards End* (1992), Director — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/howards-end.md)
- *Mr. & Mrs. Bridge* (1990), Director
- *Slaves of New York* (1989), Director
- *Maurice* (1987), Director, Screenplay — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/film/maurice.md)
- *A Room with a View* (1986), Director — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/a-room-with-a-view.md)
- *Noon Wine* (1985), Executive Producer
- *The Bostonians* (1984), Director
- *Heat and Dust* (1983), Director
- *The Courtesans of Bombay* (1983), Writer
- *American Playhouse* (1982), series, Director
- *Quartet* (1981), Director, Screenplay
- *Jane Austen in Manhattan* (1980), Director
- *The Five Forty-Eight* (1979), Director
- *The Europeans* (1979), Director
- *Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures* (1978), Director
- *Roseland* (1977), Director
- *Autobiography of a Princess* (1975), Director
- *The Wild Party* (1975), Director
- *Helen, Queen of the Nautch Girls* (1973), Writer
- *William: The Life, Works and Times of William Shakespeare* (1973), Teleplay
- *ABC Afterschool Special* (1972), series, Teleplay
- *Savages* (1972), Director, Idea
- *Adventures of a Brown Man in Search of Civilization* (1972), Director, Writer
- *Bombay Talkie* (1970), Director, Screenplay
- *The Guru* (1969), Director, Writer
- *Shakespeare-Wallah* (1965), Director, Writer
- *The Delhi Way* (1964), Director, Writer, Producer, Director of Photography, Editor
- *The Householder* (1963), Writer, Director
- *The Sword and the Flute* (1959), Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
- *Venice: Theme and Variations* (1957), Director, Writer, Producer, Cinematography
- *Andorra*, Executive Producer
- *Brutta Figura*, as James · Writer
- *Roselli’s Way*, Executive Producer
- *Richard II*, Director

## Gallery

- ![James Ivory](https://film.one/media/person/80491/gallery-d651029e37d0.jpg) James Ivory — Gorup de Besanez, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/James_Ivory_%281991.09%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Il regista Alberto Lattuada con James Ivory alla Mostra del cinema di Venezia del 1991](https://film.one/media/person/80491/gallery-d53ee9fd8eee.jpg) Il regista Alberto Lattuada con James Ivory alla Mostra del cinema di Venezia del 1991 — Gorup de Besanez, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/James_Ivory_1991.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Il regista Alberto Lattuada con James Ivory alla Mostra del cinema di Venezia del 1991](https://film.one/media/person/80491/gallery-5ae38989d2ac.jpg) Il regista Alberto Lattuada con James Ivory alla Mostra del cinema di Venezia del 1991 — Gorup de Besanez, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lattuada_03.jpg/1280px-Lattuada_03.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Merchant Ivory Gala - Curzon Mayfair - Wednesday 20th November 2024](https://film.one/media/person/80491/gallery-17f700df6563.jpg) Merchant Ivory Gala - Curzon Mayfair - Wednesday 20th November 2024 — Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/MerchantIvoryCurzMayfair201124_%2810_of_28%29_%2854153242967%29.jpg/1280px-MerchantIvoryCurzMayfair201124_%2810_of_28%29_%2854153242967%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![James Ivory](https://film.one/media/person/80491/gallery-a9f1373013e2.jpg) James Ivory — Image via TMDB
- ![James Ivory](https://film.one/media/person/80491/gallery-808bb2ff3b00.jpg) James Ivory — Image via TMDB
- ![James Ivory](https://film.one/media/person/80491/gallery-4f27aa52bb60.jpg) James Ivory — Image via TMDB
- ![Merchant Ivory Gala - Curzon Mayfair - Wednesday 20th November 2024](https://film.one/media/person/80491/gallery-2a24ceae2e41.jpg) Merchant Ivory Gala - Curzon Mayfair - Wednesday 20th November 2024 — Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/MerchantIvoryCurzMayfair201124_%2811_of_28%29_%2854154097341%29.jpg/1280px-MerchantIvoryCurzMayfair201124_%2811_of_28%29_%2854154097341%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 1 won, 4 nominated

- 2019: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *Call Me by Your Name*
- 2018: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (won), for *Call Me by Your Name*
- 1994: Best Director (nominated), for *The Remains of the Day*
- 1993: Best Director (nominated), for *Howards End*
- 1987: Best Director (nominated), for *A Room with a View*

### Other awards — 3 won

- European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film 2018: European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film (won), for *Call Me by Your Name*
- Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres 1996: Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (won)
- Guggenheim Fellowship 1974: Guggenheim Fellowship (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/james-ivory