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).
Filmography
Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean
2026
as Self (archive footage)
Omar Sharif: Citizen of the World
2020
as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
E. M. Forster: His Longest Journey
2019
as Self (archive footage)
Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast
2019
as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
Nostromo: David Lean's Impossible Dream
2017
as Self (archive footage)
Doctor Zhivago: A Celebration
2010
as Self (Archive Footage)
The Making of Lawrence of Arabia
2001
as Self (archive footage)
- No poster
The Golden Gong: The Story of Rank Films - British Cinema's Legendary Studio
1985
as Self
David Lean: A Life in Film
1985
as Self
Lost and Found: The Story of Cook's Anchor
1979
as himself
- No poster
Ryan's Daughter Featurette
1971
as Self
David Lean: A Self Portrait
1971
as Self
Pasternak
1965
as Self (archive footage)
Moscow in Madrid
1965
as Self
- No poster
David Lean's Film of Doctor Zhivago
1965
as Self
Zhivago: Behind the Camera with David Lean
1965
as Self
Wind, Sand and Star
1963
Lawrence of Arabia
1962
as Motorcyclist by Suez Canal (uncredited)
The Rise and Fall of a Jungle Giant
1958
as Self
...On Seeing Film
1958
as Self