David Lean Biography and Filmography

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Naked Photos of David Lean are available at MaleStars.com. They currently feature over 65,000 Nude Pics, Biographies, Video Clips, Articles, and Movie Reviews of famous stars.

Actresses who appeared with David Lean on screen:

Judy Davis
Deborah Kerr
Juliet Mills
Glynis Johns

David Lean
Birthday: March 25, 1908
Birth Place: Croydon, Surrey, England, UK
Height: 6' 2"

Below is a complete filmography (list of movies he's appeared in) for David Lean. If you have any corrections or additions, please email us at corrections@actorsofhollywood.com. We'd also be interested in any trivia or other information you have.

Biography

Director, writer, and producer David Lean grew up in a strict religious background in which movies were forbidden to become one of the world's most celebrated filmmakers. Beginning as a tea boy in the mid-'20s, he was lucky enough to move into editing just as sound films — with their special requirements — were coming on the scene. By the mid-'30s, he was regarded as one of the top in his field. Lean turned down several chances to make low-budget films, and got his first directing opportunity (unofficially) on Major Barbara (1941), one of the most celebrated movies of the early '40s. Noel Coward hired Lean as his directorial collaborator on his war classic In Which We Serve (1943), and, after that, Lean's career was made. For the next 15 years, he became known throughout the world for his close, intimate, serious film dramas. Some (This Happy Breed [1944], Blithe Spirit [1945], and Brief Encounter [1945]) were based upon Coward's plays, which the author had given Lean virtual carte blanche to film. Others ranged from Charles Dickens adaptations (Great Expectations, [1946], Oliver Twist [1948]) to stories about aviation (The Sound Barrier [1952]). In 1957, in association with producer Sam Spiegel, Lean moved out of England and into international production with his epic adaptation of Pierre Boulle's Japanese prisoner-of-war story The Bridge on the River Kwai, a superb drama starring Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, and William Holden that expanded the dimensions of serious filmmaking. Lean's next film, Lawrence of Arabia (1962), based on the life and military career of World War I British hero T.E. Lawrence, became the definitive dramatic film epic of its generation. Doctor Zhivago (1965), a complex romance about life in Russia before and during the revolution, opened to mixed reviews but went on to become one of the top-grossing movies of the '60s, despite a three-hour running time. With an armload of Oscars behind him from his three most recent pictures — with combined box-office earnings of as much as 300 million dollars — Lean was established as one of the top "money" directors of the decade. But his next movie, the multimillion-dollar, 200-minute Ryan's Daughter (1970), fared far less well, especially before the critics, who almost universally condemned the slowness and seeming self-indulgence of its drama and scale. Disheartened by its reception, Lean took more than ten years to release his next film, the critical and box-office success A Passage to India (1984). He was working on Nostromo, based upon Joseph Conrad's book, at the time of his death in 1991.

Movie Credits

A Passage to India (1984)
[ Alec Guinness ][ James Fox ][ Edward Fox ][ Art Malik ][ John Michie ]

In Which We Serve (1942)
[ Richard Attenborough ][ John Mills ]

One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942)
[ Peter Ustinov ]

49th Parallel (1941)
[ Laurence Olivier ]

Major Barbara (1941)
[ Rex Harrison ]

Spies of the Air (1940)

Spy for a Day (1940)

French Without Tears (1940)
[ Ray Milland ]

Pygmalion (1938)

The Wife of General Ling (1937)

Dreaming Lips (1937)

The Last Adventurers (1937)

As You Like It (1936)
[ Laurence Olivier ]

Ball at Savoy (1936)

Turn of the Tide (1935)

Escape Me Never (1935)

Java Head (1934)

Dangerous Ground (1934)

The Secret of the Loch (1934)

Tiger Bay (1934)

The Ghost Camera (1933)
[ John Mills ]

Money for Speed (1933)

Matinee Idol (1933)

Song of the Plough (1933)

Insult (1932)
[ John Gielgud ]

These Charming People (1931)

The Night Porter (1930)

Trivia

Director's Trademark: Trains/locomotives playing a significant role in the film's plot (e.g., Brief Encounter, River Kwai, Summertime, Zhivago, etc.)
He was honoured with the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award in 1990.
Was right in final pre-production for the filming of "Nostromo" (based on the Joseph Conrad novel) when he died.
According to Richard Schickel, Lean was so wounded by Pauline Kael and other critic's vicious attack on "Ryan's Daughter" (1970) that it kept him from directing another picture for 14 years, until "A Passage to India" (1984).
His third wife was previously married to his first cousin, Nigel Tangye .
His first wife was his first cousin, Isabel Lean (b. 1908).
Originally wanted to direct "Empire of the Sun" (1987), but passed it onto Steven Spielberg, because of advancing years.
He was married 6 times and at all times briefly, apparently having been unable to maintain a marriage due to his wandering eye. He also declined to discuss his personal life.
Was voted the 34th Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890- 1945". Pages 633-639. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
Towards the end of his life, he said he'd like to have another go at filming Boris Pasternak's "Doctor Zhivago." The prerequisite for remaking the film would be the casting of Julie Christie once again as Lara, and since she was too old for the part, he wouldn't be able to do it.
Directed 11 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Celia Johnson, Katharine Hepburn, Alec Guinness, Sessue Hayakawa, Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, John Mills, Sarah Miles, Peggy Ashcroft and Judy Davis. Guiness, Mills and Ashcroft won for their performances in one of Lean's movies.
Lean was signed to direct several major stars including Marlon Brando, Dennis Quaid and Paul Scofield in a film version of Joseph Conrad's "Nostromo" when he was diagnosed with throat cancer, and died three months later. Consequently the film was never made.
Actor Peter O'Toole based his performance in The Stunt Man on him
In his home town of Croydon, South London, there is a cinema named after him in the Croydon Clocktower Arts Centre.
Once screened Lawrence of Arabia (1962) with Steven Spielberg. Lean gave Spielberg a "live director's commentary," (as Spielberg put it). Spielberg said it was one of the best moments of his life, learning from a true master. Consequently, Spielberg stated that it helped him make better pictures, and that commentary directly influenced every movie he has made since.
According to Sarah Miles, Lean enjoyed pushing his actors to their personal limits and then breaking their limits of endurance, just for his own amusement.

Naked Photos of David Lean are available at MaleStars.com. They currently feature over 65,000 Nude Pics, Biographies, Video Clips, Articles, and Movie Reviews of famous stars.