David Lynch
Directing
- Born:
- 1946-01-20
- Died:
- 2025-01-16
- Place of birth:
- Missoula, Montana, USA
Biography
David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Lynch received critical acclaim for his films, which are often distinguished by their surrealist, dreamlike qualities. In his 58-year career, he was awarded numerous accolades, including the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2006 and an Honorary Academy Award in 2019. In 2007, a panel of critics convened by The Guardian announced that "after all the discussion, no one could fault the conclusion that David Lynch is the most important filmmaker of the current era." Lynch studied painting before he began making short films in the late 1960s. His first feature-length film was the independent surrealist film Eraserhead (1977), which saw success as a midnight movie. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for the biographical drama The Elephant Man (1980) and the mystery films Blue Velvet (1986) and Mulholland Drive (2001). His romantic crime drama Wild at Heart (1990) won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He also directed the space opera adaptation Dune (1984), the surrealist neo-noir Lost Highway (1997), the biographical drama The Straight Story (1999), and the experimental film Inland Empire (2006). Lynch and Mark Frost created the ABC series Twin Peaks (1990–91), for which Lynch was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. Lynch co-wrote and directed its film prequel, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), and its limited series revival (2017). He has also worked as an actor, including his portrayals of FBI agent Gordon Cole in Twin Peaks and director John Ford in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans (2022), as well as guest roles in TV series such as The Cleveland Show (2010–13), Louie (2012), and Robot Chicken (2020, 2022). Lynch's other artistic endeavours included his work as a musician, encompassing the studio albums BlueBOB (2001), Crazy Clown Time (2011), and The Big Dream (2013), as well as painting and photography. He has written the books Images (1994), Catching the Big Fish (2006), and Room to Dream (2018). He has directed several music videos for artists such as Chris Isaak, X Japan, Moby, Interpol, Nine Inch Nails, and Donovan, and commercials for Calvin Klein, Dior, L'Oreal, Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, and the New York City Department of Sanitation. A practitioner of Transcendental Meditation (TM), he founded the David Lynch Foundation, which seeks to fund the teaching of TM in schools and has since widened its scope to other at-risk populations, including the homeless, veterans, and refugees.
Known For
Filmography
I Know Catherine, the Log Lady
Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!
What Would David Lynch Do?
The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld
David Lynch: A Remembrance Both Wonderful and Strange
Beatles '64
Lynch/Oz
The Fabelmans
This Is Sparklehorse
The Sleeper Must Awaken: Making Dune
Morceaux de Cannes
Moby Doc
Welcome Home: Mary Reber and the Twin Peaks Palmer House
This Is Pop
David Lynch: The Virtual Life
Meeting the Beatles in India
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
The Original Image - David Lynch
David Lynch Teaches Creativity and Film
Curtains Up
Why Are We Creative?
Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers
Tell It Martin
The Polish Accountant
The Number of Completion
See You on the Other Side Dear Friend
Bad Binoculars
Two Blue Balls
I Had Bad Milk in Dehradun
Behind the Red Curtain
A Pot of Boiling Oil
A Bloody Finger in Your Mouth
The Man with the Gray Elevated Hair
A Very Lovely Dream: One Week in Twin Peaks
WHAT DID JACK DO?
Plankton Salesmen
Lucky
The Nineties
The Black Ghiandola
David Lynch: The Art Life
David Lynch: Insight
Girlfriend's Day
Rocksteppy
Along for the Ride
Shadows of Paradise
Blue Velvet Revisited
On Meditation
The Reality of Truth
Night Flight: Born Again
The Music of David Lynch
Rammstein in Amerika
Brand: A Second Coming
My Beautiful Broken Brain
Between Two Worlds
Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces
The 8th Floor
It's a Beautiful World
Ringo Starr: A Lifetime of Peace and Love
Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction
What Is Cinema?
Mel Brooks: Make a Noise
Professor Goudet's Lessons
Memory Film
Meditation, Creativity, Peace
Side by Side
Change Begins Within
Ångesthunden och Malmö under vatten
David Lynch in Oslo
2012: Time for Change
Brunes et Blondes
Louie
David Wants to Fly
When Lynch Met Lucas
The Cleveland Show
Red Fish
The Way of Samodelkin
Great Directors
La Traversée du désir
The Soul Detective
Early Experiments
Hollyshorts Greeting
Twin Peaks Festival Greeting 2008
Elvis | Viva Las Vegas
Critic
The Sound of Lynch
A Slice of Lynch
Lynch (one)
Out Yonder — Chicken
Lynch 2
Donovan: The Donovan Concert - Live in L.A.
Dynamic:01: The Best of DavidLynch.com
Inland Empire
Legends
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
Robot Chicken
David Lynch: 1985
Love, Death, Elvis & Oz: The Making of Wild at Heart
Dennis Hopper: The Decisive Moments
The Making of ‘Mulholland Drive’
Leçon de Cinéma
Boat
Does That Hurt You?
Lamp
Return to Mulholland Drive
Un film et son époque
Out Yonder — Teeth
Dennis Hopper: Create (or Die)
The Disc of Sorrow Is Installed
The Short Films of David Lynch
Heart of the Festival
I Don't Know Jack
BlueBob Egg
Mysteries of Love
Out Yonder — Neighbor Boy
DumbLand
Eraserhead Stories
Dino De Laurentiis: The Last Movie Mogul
In Dreams: The Roy Orbison Story
Family Guy
Independent Focus
Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch
Scene by Scene
The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money
Lumière & Company
Nadja
Don Van Vliet: Some YoYo Stuff
Made in the USA
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Crazy About the Movies: Dennis Hopper
Message to the Allied Forces
Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only: David Lynch
Hollywood Mavericks
Twin Peaks
Cinéma, de notre temps
David Lynch: Don't Look at Me
Zelly & Me
No Frank in Lumberton
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night
Ruth, Roses, and Revolver
Dune
Destination Dune
The Elephant Man
Heart Beat
The Amputee
Film '72
Sailing with Bushnell Keeler
The Oscars
I Have a Radio