THE RELEVANT QUEER: James Ivory, Award-winning Director, Producer and Writer

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TRQ: James Ivory, Born June 7, 1928

Award-winning director, producer and writer James Ivory was born on June 7, 1928. He has directed such critically acclaimed films as A Room with a View (1985), Howard’s End (1992), Remains of the Day (1993) and most recently, Call Me by Your Name (2017). Ivory is an Oscar-winner who founded Merchant Ivory Productions with his life partner Ismail Merchant and worked with Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter, Julianne Moore, Emma Thompson, Maggie Smith, Vanessa Redgrave and Timothée Chalamet.

Ivory was born in Berkeley, California but grew up in Klamath Falls, Oregon. He earned a degree in fine arts from the University of Oregon in 1951, which awarded him the College of Design’s Lawrence Medal, one of the university’s highest honours. 

Afterwards he attended the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. He graduated in 1957, and his master’s thesis film, Venice: Theme and Variations, was named one of the 10 best non-theatrical films of the year by The New York Times. 

Two years later at a film screening of his documentary The Sword and the Flute in 1959, Ivory met and fell in love with Ismail Merchant. They founded Merchant Ivory Productions in 1961. Usually, Ivory directed while Merchant produced. 

Though they originally meant to make English films in India, Merchant and Ivory made many films set in Europe and the United States. Together they made 44 films that were often intelligent period pieces, often based on literary works, and consistently visually appealing. Their films have adapted work by Henry James, E. M. Forster, Evan S. Connell and other literary figures. 

Ivory’s A Room with a View (1985) was nominated for 8 Academy Awards and was voted by Best Film of 1986 by The Critic’s Circle Film Selection of Great Britain, BAFTA, National Board of Review in the U.S. and in Italy. Howards End (1992) was nominated for 9 Academy Awards and won 3. Recently, in 2018, Ivory won an Oscar and a BAFTA for his adapted screenplay for Call Me by Your Name. He’s the oldest recipient of either award. 

Through working with Ivory some of the industries most talented actors attracted the attention of critics and earned numerous awards. Hugh Grant won the Venice Film Festival’s Best Actor Award for Maurice (1987), a film that boldly told a gay love story complete with a happy ending released in the midst of the 1980s AIDS epidemic. Joanne Woodward received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for Mr. And Mrs. Bridge (1990), and Emma Thompson won an Oscar for Best Actress for Howards End (1992). Screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala would win Academy Awards for A Room with a View and Howards End. 

Bringing together Indian and American cultures, Ivory’s work with Merchant established itself as part of British culture. Bringing race and sexuality into mainstream films, Merchant and Ivory contributed to expanding representations of social difference. Ivory in 2017 told The New Yorker, “So many people have come up to me since ‘Maurice’ and pulled me aside and said, ‘I just want you to know you changed my life.’”

Ivory shared multiple homes with Merchant in a partnership that lasted over 45 years. On May 25, 2005, Merchant died after a stomach surgery in London. Ivory lives in Hudson Valley in New York. 

On May 13, 2021, Ivory appeared alongside fellow filmmaker Ryan Coogler at the USC School of Cinematic Arts’ virtual graduation ceremony. 

About the Authors

Troy Wise is currently a PhD student at UAL Central St Martins and teaches fashion and graphic design at London College of Contemporary Arts. His background is in marketing and is founder and co-editor of Image Amplified. He lives in, and is continually fascinated by, the city of London.

Rick Guzman earned his most recent MA at UAL Central St Martins in Applied Imagination in the Creative Industries. He currently holds two MA’s and an MBA in the New Media, Journalism and International Business fields. Co-editor at Image Amplified since its start, he lives in London, is fascinated by history and is motivated by continuing to learn and explore. 

Sources:

GLBTQ Archive

LGBT History Month

Merchant Ivory

NY Times