David Lean

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).

Known For

Lawrence of Arabia

as Motorcyclist by Suez Canal (uncredited)

The Oscars

as Self

The Dick Cavett Show

as Self - Guest

Nostromo: David Lean's Impossible Dream

as Self (archive footage)

The South Bank Show

as Self

Omar Sharif: Citizen of the World

as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)

Talking Pictures

as Self (archive footage)

The Making of 'Lawrence of Arabia'

as Self (archive footage)

The American Film Institute Salute to ...

as Self

Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast

as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)