Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Film world mourns as Oscar Winner Dies. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala passed away after a long illness, her daughter, Firoza Jhabvala confirmed. She penned twenty-two films over an illustrious career, and won two Oscars.

Jhabvala won two Academy Awards for her adaptations of the E.M. Forster novels "Howards End" and "A Room With a View." She was also nominated for adapting 1993's "The Remains of the Day, while three films were in the running for Best Picture. Firoza Jhabvala confirmed to the Associated Press Wednesday (April 3rd) that her mother died in New York after a long illness. "Ruth Prawer Jhabvala has been a beloved member of the Merchant Ivory family since 1960, comprising one-third of our indomitable trifecta that included director James Ivory and the late producer Ismail Merchant," said the company's director of development, Neil Jesuele. "The passing of our two-time Academy Award winning screenwriter is a significant loss to the global film community." But she didn’t just lend her talents to writing for the screen, Jhabvala was also lauded for her work for her fiction.

Continue reading: Oscar Winner Dies - Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Passes After “Long Illness”

Oscar winner dies aged 85: CBS News have reported that Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, the Merchant Ivory stalwart and Academy Award winning screenwriter died in New York. The news was confirmed by her daughter Firoza Jhabvala.

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala was a long-term member of Merchant Ivory Productions and a prolific contributor to their oeuvre; she wrote 22 movies over four decades and won two Academy Awards for her adaptations of EM Forster’s novels, Howards End and A Room With A View. She also received an Oscar nomination for The Remains of The Day. A statement from Merchant Ivory Productions paid tribute to the late writer: “Ruth Prawer Jhabvala has been a beloved member of the Merchant Ivory family since 1960, comprising one-third of our indomitable trifecta that included director James Ivory and the late producer Ismail Merchant… The passing of our two-time Academy Award winning screenwriter is a significant loss to the global film community.”

Jhabvala was also known as a successful novelist and won the Booker prize for her 1975 novel Heat & Dust and her stories often appeared in The New Yorker magazine, with the most recent one being published last month. She is survived by her husband Cyrus Jhabvala, her daughter Firoza Jhabvala and two other daughters, as well as six grandchildren.