Born Ruth Prawer in Cologne, Germany; educated at Queen Mary College, England and London University (English). Shrewdly intelligent, impeccably literate screenwriter and novelist best known for her award-winning original scripts and adaptations of classic literature in collaboration with director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant. In England from 1939, Jhabvala moved to India in 1951 after marrying architect Cyrus Jhabvala and began publishing a series of acclaimed novels, many of which dealt with culture clash between the Indians and the British. She turned screenwriter when the director-producer duo of James Ivory and Ismail Merchant sought her permission to film her novel The Householder. Continuing with the pair, Jhabvala penned other insights into post-colonialism with SHAKESPEARE WALLAH (1965), THE GURU (1969), AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A PRINCESS (1975), and HEAT AND DUST (1983, based on her 1975 novel). By the mid-1980s, however, partly in response to the poor box-office performance of several Merchant-Ivory original productions, Jhabvala moved with the duo to a series of intelligent, respectful adaptations of period novels, especially those of E.M. Forster and Henry James. THE EUROPEANS (1979) had been an early attempt in this direction, but the trio's first really successful venture into the drawing room was THE BOSTONIANS (1984). A more lighthearted follow-up, A ROOM WITH A VIEW (1985), proved popular with critics and public alike, and brought Jhabvala an Oscar for her nicely judged adaptation of Forster's comedy of manners. After adapting two Evan Connell novels into a touching, time-spanning cinema portrait of MR. & MRS. BRIDGE (1990), she won a second Oscar for another Forster adaptation, HOWARDS END (1992). Jhabvala's talent for creating strong-minded if sometimes eccentric women also found expression in her one non-Merchant-Ivory endeavor, John Schlesinger's quirky MADAME SOUSATZKA (1988). She received another Oscar nomination for her adapted screenplay (from the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro) for the Merchant-Ivory production of THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (1993). Other notable screenwriting credits include JEFFERSON IN PARIS (1995), SURVIVING PICASSO (1996), A SOLDIER'S DAUGHTER NEVER CRIES (1998), THE GOLDEN BOWL (2000), LE DIVORCE (2003) and CITY OF YOUR FINAL DESTINATION (scheduled for 2008). Jhabvala was awarded the C.B.E. (Commander of the British Empire) in 1998 for her services to literature.  Writing (Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium) 1986: A ROOM WITH A VIEW  Writing (Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published) 1992: HOWARDS END  Nominated for Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published 1993: THE REMAINS OF THE DAY 3 nominations, 2 Awards