Directing

David Lean

Born March 25, 1908 · Croydon, Surrey, England, UK

Died April 16, 1991 · aged 83

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), …

Known For

Lawrence of Arabia

Lawrence of Arabia · 1962

Lawrence of Arabia

MovieAdventureHistory

During World War I, English officer Thomas Edward 'T.E.' Lawrence sets out to unite and lead the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes to fight the Turks.

The Bridge on the River Kwai

The Bridge on the River Kwai · 1957

The Bridge on the River Kwai

MovieDramaHistory

The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.

Doctor Zhivago

Doctor Zhivago · 1965

MovieDramaRomance

The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.

The Greatest Story Ever Told

The Greatest Story Ever Told · 1965

The Greatest Story Ever Told

MovieDramaHistory

From his birth in Bethlehem to his death and eventual resurrection, the life of Jesus Christ is given the all-star treatment in this epic retelling. Major aspects of Christ's life are touched upon, including the execution of all the newborn males in Egypt by King Herod; Christ's baptism by John the Baptist; and the betrayal by Judas after the Last Supper that eventually leads to Christ's crucifixion and miraculous return.

Brief Encounter

Brief Encounter · 1945

Brief Encounter

MovieDramaRomance

Returning home from a shopping trip to a nearby town, bored suburban housewife Laura Jesson is thrown by happenstance into an acquaintance with virtuous doctor Alec Harvey. Their casual friendship soon develops during their weekly visits into something more emotionally fulfilling than either expected, and they must wrestle with the potential havoc their deepening relationship would have on their lives and the lives of those they love.

Great Expectations

Great Expectations · 1946

Great Expectations

MovieDramaRomance

In this Dickens adaptation, orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman. Reunited with his childhood patron, Miss Havisham, and his first love, the beautiful but emotionally cold Estella, he discovers that the elderly spinster has gone mad from having been left at the altar as a young woman, and has made her charge into a warped, unfeeling heartbreaker.

Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist · 1948

MovieDramaAdventure

When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin known as the Artful Dodger and his criminal mentor, Fagin. When kindly Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver in, Fagin's evil henchman Bill Sikes plots to kidnap the boy.

A Passage to India

A Passage to India · 1984

A Passage to India

MovieDramaAdventure

Cultural mistrust and false accusations doom a friendship in British colonial India between an Indian doctor, an Englishwoman engaged to marry a city magistrate, and an English educator.

Filmography

Sort

Lawrence of Arabia

Lawrence of Arabia · 1962

Lawrence of Arabia

MovieAdventureHistory

During World War I, English officer Thomas Edward 'T.E.' Lawrence sets out to unite and lead the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes to fight the Turks.

Director

The Bridge on the River Kwai

The Bridge on the River Kwai · 1957

The Bridge on the River Kwai

MovieDramaHistory

The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.

Director

Doctor Zhivago

Doctor Zhivago · 1965

MovieDramaRomance

The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.

Director

The Greatest Story Ever Told

The Greatest Story Ever Told · 1965

The Greatest Story Ever Told

MovieDramaHistory

From his birth in Bethlehem to his death and eventual resurrection, the life of Jesus Christ is given the all-star treatment in this epic retelling. Major aspects of Christ's life are touched upon, including the execution of all the newborn males in Egypt by King Herod; Christ's baptism by John the Baptist; and the betrayal by Judas after the Last Supper that eventually leads to Christ's crucifixion and miraculous return.

Second Unit Director

Brief Encounter

Brief Encounter · 1945

Brief Encounter

MovieDramaRomance

Returning home from a shopping trip to a nearby town, bored suburban housewife Laura Jesson is thrown by happenstance into an acquaintance with virtuous doctor Alec Harvey. Their casual friendship soon develops during their weekly visits into something more emotionally fulfilling than either expected, and they must wrestle with the potential havoc their deepening relationship would have on their lives and the lives of those they love.

Director

Great Expectations

Great Expectations · 1946

Great Expectations

MovieDramaRomance

In this Dickens adaptation, orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman. Reunited with his childhood patron, Miss Havisham, and his first love, the beautiful but emotionally cold Estella, he discovers that the elderly spinster has gone mad from having been left at the altar as a young woman, and has made her charge into a warped, unfeeling heartbreaker.

Screenplay

Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist · 1948

MovieDramaAdventure

When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin known as the Artful Dodger and his criminal mentor, Fagin. When kindly Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver in, Fagin's evil henchman Bill Sikes plots to kidnap the boy.

Director

A Passage to India

A Passage to India · 1984

A Passage to India

MovieDramaAdventure

Cultural mistrust and false accusations doom a friendship in British colonial India between an Indian doctor, an Englishwoman engaged to marry a city magistrate, and an English educator.

Director

Ryan's Daughter

Ryan's Daughter · 1970

Ryan's Daughter

MovieRomanceHistory

In the wake of the 1916 Easter Rising, a married schoolteacher in a small Irish village has an affair with a troubled British officer.

Director

Hobson's Choice

Hobson's Choice · 1954

Hobson's Choice

MovieComedyDrama

A widower refuses to let his three daughters marry in order to avoid paying settlements, so they'll just have to outsmart him.

Director

Pygmalion

Pygmalion · 1938

MovieComedyDrama

When linguistics professor Henry Higgins boasts that he can pass off Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle as a princess with only six months' training, Colonel George Pickering takes him up on the bet. Eliza moves into Higgins's home and begins her rigorous training after the professor comes to a financial agreement with her dustman father, Alfred. But the plucky young woman is not the only one undergoing a transformation.

Editor

49th Parallel

49th Parallel · 1941

MovieWarThriller

In the early days of World War II, a German U-boat is sunk in Canada's Hudson Bay. Hoping to evade capture, a small band of German soldiers led by commanding officer Lieutenant Hirth attempts to cross the border into the United States, which has not yet entered the war and is officially neutral. Along the way, the German soldiers encounter brave men such as a French-Canadian fur trapper, Johnnie, a leader of a Hutterite farming community, Peter, an author, Philip and a soldier, Andy Brock.

Editor

Blithe Spirit

Blithe Spirit · 1945

MovieComedyFantasy

While holding a séance for skeptical novelist Charles Condomine, self-proclaimed 'spiritualist medium' Madame Arcati inadvertently summons the spirit of his deceased first wife Elvira, leading to an increasingly complex love triangle with Ruth, his current wife of five years.

Director

The Passionate Friends

The Passionate Friends · 1949

The Passionate Friends

MovieDramaRomance

A woman is torn between the love of her life, who's married to someone else, and her older husband.

Director

In Which We Serve

In Which We Serve · 1942

In Which We Serve

The story of the HMS Torrin, from its construction to its sinking in the Mediterranean during action in World War II. The ship’s first and only commanding officer is Captain E.V. Kinross, who trains his men not only to be loyal to him and the country, but—most importantly—to themselves.

Director

Summertime

Summertime · 1955

MovieDramaRomance

Middle-aged Ohio secretary Jane Hudson has never found love and has nearly resigned herself to spending the rest of her life alone. But before she does, she uses her savings to finance a summer in romantic Venice, where she finally meets the man of her dreams, the elegant Renato Di Rossi.

Screenplay

This Happy Breed

This Happy Breed · 1944

This Happy Breed

A chronicle of the lives of the Gibbons family, from shortly after the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second.

Director

The Sound Barrier

The Sound Barrier · 1952

The Sound Barrier

MovieDramaRomance

A young RAF pilot tests his father-in-law’s prototype supersonic aircraft to the limit, at a time of intense development in the field of aviation, just as commercial jet airliners are about to enter service.

Director

One of Our Aircraft Is Missing

One of Our Aircraft Is Missing · 1942

One of Our Aircraft Is Missing

During a raid on Germany, a British bomber crew is forced to bail out after their plane is damaged. They land in Holland, where they're aided by Dutch civilians.

Editor

Major Barbara

Major Barbara · 1941

Idealistic young Barbara is the daughter of rich weapons manufacturer Andrew Undershaft. She rebels against her estranged father by joining the Salvation Army. Wooed by professor-turned-preacher Adolphus Cusins, Barbara eventually grows disillusioned with her causes and begins to see things from her father's perspective.

Assistant Director

Dangerous Ground

Dangerous Ground · 1934

Dangerous Ground

Two insurance detectives work with the police to identify and bring down a crime kingpin. One is murdered, but his partner and his daughter continue.

Editor

Song of the Plough

Song of the Plough · 1933

Song of the Plough

'Farm life on the South Downs. A gentleman farmer beats his unscrupulous rival in sheepdog trials.' (British Film Institute)

Editor

Madeleine

Madeleine · 1950

MovieDramaCrime

Madeleine's middle-class family cannot understand why she puts off marrying a respectable young man, as they know nothing about her long-term affair with a Frenchman.

Director

As You Like It

As You Like It · 1936

MovieComedyRomance

Film version of Shakespeare's comedy of a young woman who disguises herself as a man to win the attention of the one she loves.

Editor