Ismail Merchant
Indian film producer (1936–2005)
Ismail Merchant (born Ismail Noor Muhammad Abdul Rahman; 25 December 1936 – 24 May 2005) was an Indian film producer. He worked for many years in collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions which included film director (and Merchant's longtime professional and domestic partner) James Ivory as well as screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.2
From Wikipedia’s article on Ismail Merchant (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Born Dec 25, 1936, died May 25, 2005.1
About
Together they made film adaptations from the novels of E.M. Forster and Henry James. Merchant received the BAFTA Award for Best Film for A Room with a View (1985), and Howards End (1992). He received Academy Award nominations for Best Live Action Short Film for The Creation of a Woman (1959) and for Best Picture for A Room with a View (1985), Howards End (1992), and The Remains of the Day (1993).
From Wikipedia’s article on Ismail Merchant, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2
Companies
- Merchant Ivory ProductionsFounder13
Early life and education
- Date not recordedStern School of Business3
- Date not recordedNew York University3
- Date not recordedSt. Xavier's College3
Born in Bombay (Mumbai), Merchant was son of Hazra (née Memon) and Noor Mohamed Rehman, a Bombay textile dealer. He grew up speaking Gujarati, Urdu and Memoni fluently, and he later picked up Arabic and English while at school. When he was 11, he and his family were caught up in the 1947 partition of India. His father was the President of the Muslim League and refused to move to Pakistan. Merchant later said that he carried memories of "butchery and riots" into adulthood.
As a child at the age of nine, Merchant delivered a speech about partition at a political rally in front of a crowd of 10,000.
At age 13, he developed a close friendship with actress Nimmi, who introduced him to studios in Bombay (the center of Hindi film industry). It was she who inspired his ambitious rise to stardom.
Merchant studied at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai and received BA degree from University of Bombay. It was here he developed a love for movies. When he was 22, he moved to the US to study at New York University where he received an MBA degree. While in New York, he gave up his family name of Abdul Rehman for Merchant.
He supported himself by working as a messenger for the UN in New York and used this opportunity to persuade Indian delegates to fund his film projects. Of this experience, he said, "I was not intimidated by anyone or anything." Immersed in a new world of art and culture, it was here that Merchant discovered the films of Bengali director Satyajit Ray, as well as those of European artists such as Ingmar Bergman, Vittorio De Sica, and Federico Fellini.
In 1961, Merchant made a short film, The Creation of Woman. It was shown at the Cannes Film Festival and received an Academy Award nomination.
From Wikipedia’s article on Ismail Merchant (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Career
Occupation: actor, producer, film director, film actor, culinary writer, writer, film producer.5
- Date not recordedFounded Merchant Ivory Productions4
Personal life
Awards
Links
Sources
The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.
- 1WikidataIsmail Merchant on Wikidata
- 2WikipediaIsmail Merchant on Wikipedia
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- 10Wikidataaward, as reported
- 11Wikidataaward, as reported
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