Person
David Lean
Croydon, Surrey, England, UK
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…
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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
Movies and shows, newest first
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2026
Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2020
Omar Sharif: Citizen of the World
Movie Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
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2019
E. M. Forster: His Longest Journey
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2019
Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast
Movie Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
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2017
Nostromo: David Lean's Impossible Dream
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2013
Talking Pictures
TV show Self (archive footage)
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2010
Doctor Zhivago: A Celebration
Movie Self (Archive Footage)
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2001
The Making of Lawrence of Arabia
Movie Self (archive footage)
- 1985
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1985
David Lean: A Life in Film
Movie Self
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1984
A Passage to India
Movie Director
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1979
Lost and Found: The Story of Cook's Anchor
Movie himself
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1978
The South Bank Show
TV show Self
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1973
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
TV show Self
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1971
Film '72
TV show Self
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1971
David Lean: A Self Portrait
Movie Self
More credits
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1971
Ryan's Daughter Featurette
Movie Self
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1970
Ryan's Daughter
Movie Director
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1968
The Dick Cavett Show
TV show Self - Guest
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1967
Omnibus
TV show Self
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1965
Pasternak
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1965
Moscow in Madrid
Movie Self
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1965
Doctor Zhivago
Movie Director
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1965
The Greatest Story Ever Told
Movie Second Unit Director
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1965
Zhivago: Behind the Camera with David Lean
Movie Self
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1965
David Lean's Film of Doctor Zhivago
Movie Self
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1963
Wind, Sand and Star
Movie
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1962
Lawrence of Arabia
Movie Motorcyclist by Suez Canal (uncredited)
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1958
...On Seeing Film
Movie Self
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1958
The Rise and Fall of a Jungle Giant
Movie Self
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1957
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Movie Director
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1955
Summertime
Movie Director
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1954
Hobson's Choice
Movie Director
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1954
Reflets de Cannes
TV show Self
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1953
The Oscars
TV show Self
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1952
The Sound Barrier
Movie Director
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1950
Madeleine
Movie Director
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1949
The Passionate Friends
Movie Director
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1948
Oliver Twist
Movie Director
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1946
Great Expectations
Movie Director
