Howards End screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala dead at 85

The Oscar and Booker Prize winning screenwriter and novelist Ruth Prawer Jhabvala has died from a pulmonary disorder in New York. She was 85.

Jhabvala is best known for her collaboration with the filmmaking team of James Ivory and Ismail Merchant, stretching back to the early '60s when she adapted her novel The Householder for them.

They subsequently made over 20 films together, with Jhabvala earning Acadamy Awards for both A Room with a View (1985) and Howards End (1992). 

She was also awarded the Booker Prize in 1975 for her novel Heat and Dust—which was also adapted by Jhabvala for the 1983 Merchant/Ivory film.