Renowned Producer Ismail Merchant Dies

We are saddened to report that Indian born filmmaker Ismail Merchant has died in a London hospital after a brief illness. Born December 1936 in Mumbai, Merchant was educated in the United States, graduating from New York University with a Masters Degree in Business Administration. From here he was drawn towards the world of filmmaking, and producing in particular. In 1961, he took his first film, The Creation Of Woman to the Cannes Film Festival, and it was here that he and future long term collaborator James Ivory first agreed to form Merchant Ivory Productions, which would go on to become one of the longest partnerships in Hollywood. The duo, often along with screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, would make nearly fifty films, the most successful of these arriving in the second half of their collective career. From the mid 1980's, a string of hugely popular period films including A Room With A View, Howard's End, and The Remains Of The Day were a regular feature of box office reports and Oscar nomination lists. Merchant also wrote several books on his other passion