David Lean

Who was David Lean?

Sir David Lean, CBE was an English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor, best remembered for big-screen epics such as The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, and Doctor Zhivago; for perhaps the most highly regarded of all the adaptations of Dickens' novels, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist; and for the renowned romantic drama Brief Encounter.

Acclaimed by directors including 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, for which he won twice for The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Lawrence of Arabia. Lean has three films in the top five of the British Film Institute's Top 100 British Films.