Directing
David Lean
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
Film · 2026
Omar Sharif: Citizen of the World
Film · 2020
E. M. Forster: His Longest Journey
Film · 2019
Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast
Film · 2019
Nostromo: David Lean's Impossible Dream
Film · 2017
Talking Pictures
Series · 2013
Doctor Zhivago: A Celebration
Film · 2010
The Making of Lawrence of Arabia
Film · 2001
The Golden Gong: The Story of Rank Films - British Cinema's Legendary Studio
Film · 1985
David Lean: A Life in Film
Film · 1985
Lost and Found: The Story of Cook's Anchor
Film · 1979
The South Bank Show
Series · 1978
The South Bank Show
Series · 1978
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
Series · 1973
Ryan's Daughter Featurette
Film · 1971
David Lean: A Self Portrait
Film · 1971
Film '72
Series · 1971
The Dick Cavett Show
Series · 1968
Omnibus
Series · 1967
Pasternak
Film · 1965
Moscow in Madrid
Film · 1965
David Lean's Film of Doctor Zhivago
Film · 1965
Zhivago: Behind the Camera with David Lean
Film · 1965
Wind, Sand and Star
Film · 1963
Lawrence of Arabia
Film · 1962
The Rise and Fall of a Jungle Giant
Film · 1958
...On Seeing Film
Film · 1958
Reflets de Cannes
Series · 1954
The Oscars
Series · 1953