---
name: "Ruth Prawer Jhabvala"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/ruth-prawer-jhabvala"
fi1m_id: "ruth-prawer-jhabvala"
imdb_id: "nm0695609"
tmdb_id: 54443
wikidata_id: "Q235759"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "7 May 1927"
died: "3 April 2013"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 85
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-09-17T15:46:14.735505+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."
---

# Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

## Identity

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/ruth-prawer-jhabvala
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** ruth-prawer-jhabvala
- **IMDb ID:** nm0695609
- **TMDB ID:** 54443
- **Wikidata ID:** Q235759
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Prawer_Jhabvala, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q235759, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0695609/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/54443

Writer. Born 7 May 1927 in Cologne, Weimar Republic [now Germany]. Died 3 April 2013.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 7 May 1927, Cologne, Weimar Republic [now Germany]
- **Died:** 3 April 2013
- **Active:** 1986–1993
- **Frequently works with:** [Ismail Merchant](https://film.one/person/ismail-merchant.md), [James Ivory](https://film.one/person/james-ivory.md), [Anthony Hopkins](https://film.one/person/anthony-hopkins.md), [Emma Thompson](https://film.one/person/emma-thompson.md), [Helena Bonham Carter](https://film.one/person/helena-bonham-carter.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 2 Oscars (2 won · 1 nominated)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 85, as writer, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 84 (1), 1990s 86 (2)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 85 to 79 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 0 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 3, Romance 3
- **Screen time:** 7 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $70m across 3 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Prawer_Jhabvala, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q235759, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0695609/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/54443

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*The Remains of the Day*](https://film.one/film/the-remains-of-the-day.md) (88)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Howards End*](https://film.one/film/howards-end.md) (84)
- **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.

## Biography

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala was a novelist and screenwriter. Born in Cologne, Germany, in 1927, she moved with her family to England in 1939 and later became a British and American citizen. She married Indian architect Cyrus Jhabvala in 1951 and lived in New Delhi until the mid-1970s, after which she divided her time between India and New York.

She began writing screenplays in the early 1960s after meeting producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory in Delhi. Their collaboration, which lasted nearly five decades, produced more than twenty films, many of them adaptations of literary works. Jhabvala wrote the screenplays for Merchant Ivory productions including *A Room with a View* (1986), *Howards End* (1992) and *The Remains of the Day* (1993).

She also wrote twelve novels and several collections of short stories. Her novel *Heat and Dust* (1975) won the Booker Prize. She received Academy Awards for best adapted screenplay for *A Room with a View* and *Howards End*, and was appointed CBE in 1998.

*Sources: britannica.com, latimes.com, bfi.org.uk, rottentomatoes.com.*

## On Fi1m (3)

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

## Complete filmography (27)

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

- *The City of Your Final Destination* (2009), Screenplay
- *Le Divorce* (2003), Writer
- *The Golden Bowl* (2000), Writer
- *A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries* (1998), Screenplay
- *Surviving Picasso* (1996), Screenplay
- *Jefferson in Paris* (1995), Writer
- *The Remains of the Day* (1993), Screenplay — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/the-remains-of-the-day.md)
- *Howards End* (1992), Screenplay — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/howards-end.md)
- *Mr. & Mrs. Bridge* (1990), Screenplay
- *Madame Sousatzka* (1988), Screenplay
- *A Room with a View* (1986), Screenplay — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/a-room-with-a-view.md)
- *The Bostonians* (1984), Screenplay
- *Heat and Dust* (1983), Writer, Novel
- *The Courtesans of Bombay* (1983), Writer
- *American Playhouse* (1982), series, Writer
- *Quartet* (1981), Writer
- *Jane Austen in Manhattan* (1980), Writer
- *The Europeans* (1979), Screenplay
- *Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures* (1978), Story
- *Roseland* (1977), Writer
- *Autobiography of a Princess* (1975), Writer
- *William: The Life, Works and Times of William Shakespeare* (1973), Teleplay
- *ABC Afterschool Special* (1972), series, Teleplay
- *Bombay Talkie* (1970), Screenplay
- *The Guru* (1969), Writer
- *Shakespeare-Wallah* (1965), Screenplay, Writer
- *The Householder* (1963), Original Film Writer, Writer

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 2 won, 1 nominated

- 1994: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *The Remains of the Day*
- 1993: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (won), for *Howards End*
- 1987: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (won), for *A Room with a View*

### BAFTA Film Awards — 1 won

- 1983: Best Adapted Screenplay (won)

### Other awards — 5 won

- O. Henry Award 2005: O. Henry Award (won)
- Commander of the Order of the British Empire 1998: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (won)
- MacArthur Fellows Program 1984: MacArthur Fellows Program (won)
- Guggenheim Fellowship 1976: Guggenheim Fellowship (won)
- Booker Prize 1975: Booker Prize (won), for *Heat and Dust*

*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/ruth-prawer-jhabvala