David Lean
Born: 1908-03-25 in Croydon, Surrey, England, UK
Died: 1991-04-16
Known For: Directing
Biography
Sir David Lean CBE (25 March 1908 – 16 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Widely considered one of the most important figures in British cinema, he is best remembered for adapting the works of Charles Dickens and Noël Coward, and for his large scale period epics such as The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965), Ryan's Daughter (1970), and A Passage to India (1984). Acclaimed and praised by directors such as Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick, Lean was voted 9th greatest film director of all time in the British Film Institute Sight & Sound "Directors Top Directors" poll 2002. Nominated seven times for the Academy Award for Best Director, winning twice for The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia, he has seven films in the British Film Institute's Top 100 British Films (with three of them being in the top five).
Filmography
2026
- Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean as Self (archive footage)
2020
- Omar Sharif: Citizen of the World as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
2019
- Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
- E. M. Forster: His Longest Journey as Self (archive footage)
2017
- Nostromo: David Lean's Impossible Dream as Self (archive footage)
2013
- Talking Pictures as Self (archive footage)
2010
- Doctor Zhivago: A Celebration as Self (Archive Footage)
2001
- The Making of Lawrence of Arabia as Self (archive footage)
1985
1984
- A Passage to India ... (Director)
1979
- Lost and Found: The Story of Cook's Anchor as himself
1978
- The South Bank Show as Self
1973
1971
- David Lean: A Self Portrait as Self
1970
- Ryan's Daughter ... (Director)
- Ryan's Daughter Featurette as Self
1968
- The Dick Cavett Show as Self - Guest
1967
- Omnibus as Self
1965
- Doctor Zhivago ... (Director)
- The Greatest Story Ever Told ... (Second Unit Director)
- Zhivago: Behind the Camera with David Lean as Self
- Moscow in Madrid as Self
- Pasternak as Self (archive footage)
- David Lean's Film of Doctor Zhivago as Self
1963
1962
- Lawrence of Arabia as Motorcyclist by Suez Canal (uncredited)
1958
- The Rise and Fall of a Jungle Giant as Self
- ...On Seeing Film as Self
1957
- The Bridge on the River Kwai ... (Director)
1955
- Summertime ... (Screenplay)
1954
- Reflets de Cannes as Self
- Hobson's Choice ... (Director)
1953
- The Oscars as Self
1952
- The Sound Barrier ... (Director)
1950
- Madeleine ... (Director)
1949
- The Passionate Friends ... (Director)
1948
- Oliver Twist ... (Director)
1946
- Great Expectations ... (Screenplay)
1945
- Brief Encounter ... (Director)
- Blithe Spirit ... (Director)
1944
- This Happy Breed ... (Director)
1942
- In Which We Serve ... (Director)
- One of Our Aircraft Is Missing ... (Editor)
1941
- 49th Parallel ... (Editor)
- Major Barbara ... (Assistant Director)
1940
- French Without Tears ... (Editor)
- Spy for a Day ... (Editor)
1939
- Spies of the Air ... (Editor)
1938
- Pygmalion ... (Editor)
1937
- Dreaming Lips ... (Editor)
- The Wife of General Ling ... (Editor)
1936
- As You Like It ... (Editor)
- Ball at Savoy ... (Editor)
1935
- The Crouching Beast ... (Editor)
- Escape Me Never ... (Editor)
1934
- The Secret of the Loch ... (Editor)
- Tiger Bay ... (Editor)
- Dangerous Ground ... (Editor)
- The King of Paris ... (Editor)
1933
- The Fortunate Fool ... (Editor)
- The Ghost Camera ... (Editor)
- Song of the Plough ... (Editor)
- Money for Speed ... (Editor)
1932
- Insult ... (Editor)
1931
- These Charming People ... (Editor)
1930
- The Night Porter ... (Editor)
1928
- Sailors Don't Care ... (Assistant Camera)
1927
- Quinneys ... (Production Runner)