Sir David Lean, CBE (25 March 1908 – 16 April 1991) was an
English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor, responsible
for large-scale epics[1] such as
The Bridge on the River Kwai

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957),
Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Doctor Zhivago (1965). He also directed
adaptations of
Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens novels Great Expectations (1946) and
Oliver Twist (1948), as well as the romantic drama Brief Encounter
(1945).
Originally starting out as a film editor in the early 1930s, Lean made
his directorial debut with 1942's In Which We Serve, which was the
first of four collaborations with Noël Coward. Beginning with
Summertime in 1955, Lean began to make internationally co-produced
films financed by the big Hollywood studios; in 1970, however, the
critical failure of his film
Ryan's Daughter

Ryan's Daughter led him to take a
fourteen-year break from filmmaking, during which he planned a number
of film projects which never came to fruition. In 1984 he had a career
revival with A Passage to India, adapted from E. M. Forster's novel;
it was an instant hit with critics but proved to be the last film Lean
would direct.
Lean's affinity for striking visuals and inventive editing techniques
has led him to be lauded by directors such as Steven Spielberg,[2]
Stanley Kubrick,[3] and Ridley Scott.[4] Lean was voted 9th greatest
film director of all time in the
British Film Institute

British Film Institute Sight &
Sound "Directors' Top Directors" poll in 2002.[5] Nominated seven
times for the Academy Award for Best Director, which he won twice for
The Bridge on the River Kwai

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)[6][7] and was awarded the AFI
Life Achievement Award in 1990.
Contents
1 Early life and education
2 Career
2.1 Period as film editor
2.2 British films
2.3 International films
2.3.1 For Columbia and Sam Spiegel
2.3.2 For MGM
2.4 Last years and unfulfilled projects
3 Personal life and honours
4 Style and influence
5 Filmography
6 Award and nominations
6.1 Academy Awards
6.2 Golden Globe Awards
6.3
BAFTA

BAFTA Awards
6.4 Other awards and nominations
7 Notes
8 References
9 Further reading
10 External links
Early life and education[edit]
Lean was born at 38 Blenheim Crescent, South Croydon,
Surrey

Surrey (now part
of Greater London), to Francis William le Blount Lean and the former
Helena Tangye (niece of Sir Richard Trevithick Tangye). His parents
were Quakers and he was a pupil at the Quaker-founded Leighton Park
School in Reading. His younger brother, Edward Tangye Lean
(1911–1974), founded the original
Inklings
.jpg/600px-Eagle_and_Child_(interior).jpg)
Inklings literary club when a
student at Oxford University. Lean was a half-hearted schoolboy with a
dreamy nature who was labeled a "dud"[8] of a student; he left school
in the Christmas Term of 1926, at the age of 18[9] and entered his
father's chartered accountancy firm as an apprentice. A more formative
event for his career than his formal education was an uncle's gift,
when Lean was aged ten, of a Brownie box camera. "You usually didn't
give a boy a camera until he was 16 or 17 in those days. It was a huge
compliment and I succeeded at it.' Lean printed and developed his
films, and it was his 'great hobby'.[10] In 1923,[11] his father
deserted the family when he ran off with another woman, and Lean would
later follow a similar path after his own first marriage and child.[8]
Career[edit]
Period as film editor[edit]
Bored by his work, Lean spent every evening in the cinema, and in
1927, after an aunt had advised him to find a job he enjoyed, he
visited Gaumont Studios where his obvious enthusiasm earned him a
month's trial without pay. He was taken on as a teaboy, promoted to
clapperboy, and soon rose to the position of third assistant director.
By 1930 he was working as an editor on newsreels, including those of
Gaumont Pictures and Movietone, while his move to feature films began
with Freedom of the Seas (1934) and Escape Me Never (1935).
He edited Gabriel Pascal's film productions of two George Bernard Shaw
plays, Pygmalion (1938) and Major Barbara (1941). He edited Powell
& Pressburger's 49th Parallel (1941) and One of Our Aircraft Is
Missing (1942). After this last film, Lean began his directing career,
after editing more than two dozen features by 1942. As Tony Sloman
wrote in 1999, "As the varied likes of David Lean, Robert Wise,
Terence Fisher

Terence Fisher and
Dorothy Arzner

Dorothy Arzner have proved, the cutting rooms are
easily the finest grounding for film direction."[12]
David Lean

David Lean was
given honorary membership of the Guild of British Film Editors in
1968.
British films[edit]
His first work as a director was in collaboration with
Noël Coward

Noël Coward on
In Which We Serve

In Which We Serve (1942), and he later adapted several of Coward's
plays into successful films. These films are This Happy Breed (1944),
Blithe Spirit (1945) and
Brief Encounter

Brief Encounter (1945) with
Celia Johnson

Celia Johnson and
Trevor Howard

Trevor Howard as quietly understated clandestine lovers, torn between
their unpredictable passion and their respective orderly middle-class
marriages in suburban England. The film shared Grand Prix honors at
the 1946 Cannes film festival and garnered Lean his first Academy
nominations for directing and screen adaptation, and
Celia Johnson

Celia Johnson a
nomination for Best Actress. It has since become a classic, one of the
most highly regarded British films.
Two celebrated
Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens adaptations followed – Great
Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948). David Shipman wrote in
The Story of Cinema: Volume Two (1984): "Of the other Dickens films,
only Cukor's David Copperfield approaches the excellence of this pair,
partly because his casting, too, was near perfect".[13] These two
films were the first directed by Lean to star Alec Guinness, whom Lean
considered his "good luck charm". The actor's portrayal of Fagin was
controversial at the time. The first screening in Berlin during
February 1949 offended the surviving Jewish community and led to a
riot. It caused problems too in New York, and after private
screenings, was condemned by the
Anti-Defamation League

Anti-Defamation League and the
American Board of Rabbis. "To our surprise it was accused of being
anti-Semitic", Lean wrote. "We made Fagin an outsize and, we hoped, an
amusing Jewish villain."[14] The terms of the production code meant
that the film's release in the United States was delayed until July
1951 after cuts amounting to eight minutes.[15]
The next film directed by Lean was
The Passionate Friends

The Passionate Friends (1949), an
atypical Lean film, but one which marked his first occasion to work
with Claude Rains, who played the husband of a woman (Todd) torn
between him and an old flame (Howard).
The Passionate Friends

The Passionate Friends was the
first of three films to feature the actress Ann Todd, who became his
third wife. Madeleine (1950), set in Victorian-era Glasgow is about an
1857 cause célèbre with Todd's lead character accused of murdering a
former lover. "Once more", writes film critic David Thomson "Lean
settles on the pressing need for propriety, but not before the film
has put its characters and the audience through a wringer of
contradictory feelings."[16] The last of the films with Todd, The
Sound Barrier (1952), has a screenplay by the playwright Terence
Rattigan and was the first of his three films for Sir Alexander
Korda's
London

London Films. Hobson's Choice (1954), with
Charles Laughton

Charles Laughton in
the lead, was based on the play by Harold Brighouse.
International films[edit]
Lean in Northern
Finland

Finland in 1965 while shooting Doctor Zhivago.
Summertime (1955) marked a new departure for Lean. It was partly
American financed, although again made for Korda's
London

London Films. The
film features
Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Hepburn in the lead role as a middle-aged
American woman who has a romance while on holiday in Venice. It was
shot entirely on location there.
For Columbia and Sam Spiegel[edit]
Lean's films now began to become infrequent but much larger in scale
and more extensively released internationally. The Bridge on the River
Kwai (1957) was based on a novel by
Pierre Boulle

Pierre Boulle recounting the story
of British and American prisoners of war trying to survive in a
Japanese prison camp during the Second World War. The film stars
William Holden

William Holden and
Alec Guinness

Alec Guinness and became the highest-grossing film
of 1957 in the United States. It won seven Academy Awards, including
Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Alec Guinness, who had
battled with Lean to give more depth to his role as an obsessively
correct British commander who is determined to build the best possible
bridge for his Japanese captors in Burma.
After extensive location work in the Middle East, North Africa, Spain,
and elsewhere, Lean's Lawrence of Arabia was released in 1962. This
was the first project of Lean's with a screenplay by playwright Robert
Bolt, rewriting an original script by Michael Wilson (one of the two
blacklisted writers of Bridge on the River Kwai). It recounts the life
of T. E. Lawrence, the British officer who is depicted in the film as
uniting the squabbling Bedouin peoples of the Arab peninsula to fight
in
World War I

World War I and then push on for independence.
After some hesitation,
Alec Guinness

Alec Guinness once again appeared, in his
fourth
David Lean

David Lean film, as the Arab leader, Prince Faisal, despite his
misgivings from their conflicts on Bridge on the River Kwai. French
composer Maurice Jarre, on his first Lean film, created a soaring film
score with a famous theme and won his first Oscar for Best Original
Score. The film turned actor Peter O'Toole, playing Lawrence, into an
international star, was nominated for ten Oscars and won seven,
including Best Picture and Lean's second win for Best Director. He
remains the only British director to win more than one Oscar for
directing.
For MGM[edit]
Lean had his greatest box-office success with Doctor Zhivago (1965), a
romance set during the Russian Revolution. The film, based on the
banned novel by Nobel Prize-winning Russian poet Boris Pasternak,
tells the story of a brilliant and warm-hearted physician and poet
(Omar Sharif) who, while seemingly happily married into the Russian
aristocracy, and a father, falls in love with a beautiful abandoned
young mother named Lara (Julie Christie) and struggles to be with her
in the chaos of the Bolshevik revolution and subsequent Russian Civil
War.
Initially, reviews for Doctor Zhivago were lukewarm, but critics have
since come to see it as one of Lean's best films, with film director
Paul Greengrass

Paul Greengrass calling it "one of the great masterpieces of
cinema".[17] As of 2015, it is the 8th highest-grossing film of all
time, adjusted for inflation. Producer
Carlo Ponti

Carlo Ponti used Maurice
Jarre's lush romantic score to create a pop tune called "Lara's
Theme", which became an international hit song with lyrics under the
title "Somewhere My Love", one of cinema's most successful theme
songs. The British director of photography, Freddie Young, won an
Academy Award for his color cinematography. Around the same time, Lean
also directed some scenes of
The Greatest Story Ever Told

The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) while
George Stevens

George Stevens was committed to location work in Nevada.
Lean's
Ryan's Daughter

Ryan's Daughter (1970) was released after an extended period on
location in Ireland. A doomed romance set against the backdrop of 1916
Ireland's struggles against the British, it is loosely based on
Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Starring the aging Hollywood 'bad
boy'
Robert Mitchum
.jpg/440px-Robert_Mitchum_1949_(no_signature).jpg)
Robert Mitchum in an uncharacteristic role as a long-suffering
Irish husband and British actress
Sarah Miles
.jpg/440px-Christopher_Miles_directs_his_sister_Sarah_Miles_in_1980_(cropped).jpg)
Sarah Miles as his faithless young
wife, the film received far fewer positive reviews than the director's
previous work, being particularly savaged by the New York critics.
Some critics felt the film's massive visual scale on gorgeous Irish
beaches and extended running time did not suit its small-scale
romantic narrative. Nonetheless, the film was a box office success,
earning $31 million and making it the 8th highest-grossing film of
that year. It won two
Academy Awards

Academy Awards the following year, another for
cinematographer
Freddie Young and for supporting actor
John Mills

John Mills in
his role as a village halfwit.
The poor critical reception of the film prompted Lean to meet with the
National Society of Film Critics, gathered at the
Algonquin Hotel

Algonquin Hotel in
New York, including The New Yorker's Pauline Kael, and ask them why
they objected to the movie. "I sensed trouble from the moment I sat
down," Lean says of the now famous luncheon. TIME critic Richard
Shickel asked Lean pointblank how he, the director of Brief Encounter,
could have made "a piece of bullshit" like Ryan's Daughter.[18] These
critics so lacerated the film for two hours to David Lean's face that
the devastated Lean did not make another film for fourteen years.
"They just took the film to bits," said Lean in a later television
interview. "It really had such an awful effect on me for several
years... you begin to think that maybe they're right. Why on earth am
I making films if I don't have to? It shakes one's confidence
terribly.""[19]
Last years and unfulfilled projects[edit]
From 1977 until 1980, Lean and
Robert Bolt worked on a film adaptation
of Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian, a dramatized account by Richard
Hough of the Mutiny on the Bounty. It was originally to be released as
a two-part film, one named The Lawbreakers that dealt with the voyage
out to Tahiti and the subsequent mutiny, and the second named The Long
Arm that studied the journey of the mutineers after the mutiny as well
as the admiralty's response in sending out the frigate HMS Pandora, in
which some of the mutineers were imprisoned. Lean could not find
financial backing for both films after
Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. withdrew from the
project; he decided to combine it into one and looked at a seven-part
TV series before getting backing from Italian mogul Dino De
Laurentiis. The project then suffered a further setback when Bolt
suffered a serious stroke and was unable to continue writing; the
director felt that Bolt's involvement would be crucial to the film's
success.
Melvyn Bragg

Melvyn Bragg ended up writing a considerable portion of the
script.
Lean was forced to abandon the project after overseeing casting and
the construction of the $4 million Bounty replica; at the last
possible moment, actor
Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson brought in his friend Roger
Donaldson to direct the film, as producer De Laurentiis did not want
to lose the millions he had already put into the project over what he
thought was as insignificant a person as the director dropping
out.[20] The film was eventually released as The Bounty.
Lean then embarked on a project he had pursued since 1960, a film
adaptation of
A Passage to India

A Passage to India (1984), from E. M. Forster's 1924
novel of colonial conflicts in British-occupied India. Entirely shot
on location in the sub-continent, this became his last completed film.
He rejected a draft by Santha Rama Rau, responsible for the stage
adaptation and Forster's preferred screenwriter, and wrote the script
himself.[21] In addition, Lean also edited the film with the result
that his three roles in the production (writer, editor, director) were
given equal status in the credits.[22]
Lean recruited long-time collaborators for the cast and crew,
including
Maurice Jarre

Maurice Jarre (who won another Academy-Award for the score),
Alec Guinness

Alec Guinness in his sixth and final role for Lean, as an eccentric
Hindu Brahmin, and John Box, the production designer for Dr. Zhivago.
Reversing the critical response to Ryan's Daughter, the film opened to
universally enthusiastic reviews; the film was nominated for eleven
Academy Awards

Academy Awards and Lean himself nominated for three
Academy Awards

Academy Awards in
directing, editing, and writing. His female star, in the complex role
of a confused young British woman who falsely accuses an Indian man of
rape, gained Australian actress
Judy Davis

Judy Davis her first Academy
nomination. Peggy Ashcroft, as the sensitive Mrs. Moore, won the Oscar
for best supporting actress, making her, at 77, the oldest actress to
win that award. According to Roger Ebert, it is "one of the greatest
screen adaptations I have ever seen".[23] But this was, sadly, to be
his last.
He was signed on to direct a Warner Bros.-backed adaptation of J. G.
Ballard's autobiographical novel
Empire of the Sun
.jpg)
Empire of the Sun after director
Harold Becker left the project.
Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg was brought on board
as a producer for Lean, but later assumed the role of director when
Lean dropped out of the project; Spielberg was drawn to the idea of
making the film due to his long-time admiration for Lean and his
films.
Empire of the Sun
.jpg)
Empire of the Sun was released in 1987.
During the last years of his life, Lean was in pre-production of a
film version of Joseph Conrad's Nostromo. He assembled an all-star
cast, including Marlon Brando, Paul Scofield, Anthony Quinn, Peter
O'Toole, Christopher Lambert,
Isabella Rossellini
.jpg/440px-Enemy_36_(9766938626).jpg)
Isabella Rossellini and Dennis Quaid,
with
Georges Corraface

Georges Corraface as the title character. Lean also wanted Alec
Guinness to play Doctor Monyghan, but the aged actor turned him down
in a letter from 1989: "I believe I would be disastrous casting. The
only thing in the part I might have done well is the crippled
crab-like walk." As with Empire of the Sun,
Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg came on
board as producer with the backing of Warner Bros., but after several
rewrites and disagreements on the script, he left the project and was
replaced by Serge Silberman, a respected producer at Greenwich Film
Productions.
The
Nostromo

Nostromo project involved several writers, including Christopher
Hampton and Robert Bolt, but their work was abandoned. In the end,
Lean decided to write the film himself with the assistance of Maggie
Unsworth (wife of renowned cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth), with
whom he had worked on the scripts for Brief Encounter, Great
Expectations, Oliver Twist, and The Passionate Friends. Originally
Lean considered filming in
Mexico

Mexico but later decided to film in London
and Madrid, partly to secure O'Toole, who had insisted he would take
part only if the film was shot close to home.
Nostromo

Nostromo had a total
budget of $46 million and was six weeks away from filming at the time
of Lean's death from throat cancer. It was rumoured that fellow film
director
John Boorman

John Boorman would take over direction, but the production
collapsed.
Nostromo

Nostromo was finally adapted for the small screen with an
unrelated
BBC television

BBC television mini-series in 1997.
Personal life and honours[edit]
Lean was a long-term resident of Limehouse, east London. His home on
Narrow Street is still owned by his family. His co-writer and producer
Norman Spencer has said that Lean was a "huge womaniser" and "to my
knowledge, he had almost 1,000 women".[24] He was married six times,
had one son, and at least two grandchildren—from all of whom he was
completely estranged[25]—and was divorced five times. He was
survived by his last wife, art dealer Sandra Cooke, the co-author
(with Barry Chattington) of David Lean: An Intimate Portrait.[8] His
six wives were:
Isabel Lean (28 June 1930 – 1936) (his first cousin); one son, Peter
Kay Walsh

Kay Walsh (23 November 1940 – 1949)
Ann Todd

Ann Todd (21 May 1949 – 1957)
Leila Matkar (4 July 1960 – 1978) (From, Hyderabad, India). Lean's
longest-lasting marriage.[26][27]
Sandra Hotz (28 October 1981 – 1984)
Sandra Cooke (15 December 1990 – 16 April 1991)
Lean was appointed
Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
in 1973, and was knighted for his contributions and services to the
arts in 1984.[28] Lean received the
AFI Life Achievement Award

AFI Life Achievement Award in
1990. In 2012, Lean was among the British cultural icons selected by
artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous
artwork – the Beatles'
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album
cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that
he most admires.[29][30]
In 1999, the
British Film Institute

British Film Institute compiled its list of the Top 100
British films; seven of Lean's films appeared on the list:
Brief Encounter

Brief Encounter (#2)
Lawrence of Arabia (#3)
Great Expectations (#5)
The Bridge on the River Kwai

The Bridge on the River Kwai (#11)
Doctor Zhivago (#27)
Oliver Twist (#46)
In Which We Serve

In Which We Serve (#92)
In addition to this, the American Film Institute's 1998 100
Years...100 Movies list placed Lawrence of Arabia 5th, The Bridge on
the River Kwai 13th and Doctor Zhivago 39th; in the 2007 revised
edition, Lawrence of Arabia placed 7th and The Bridge on the River
Kwai placed 36th.
Style and influence[edit]
As Lean himself pointed out,[31] his films are often admired by fellow
directors as a showcase of the filmmaker's art. They are characterised
by his highly creative and sometimes jarring combination of editing,
cinematography and sound mixing, particularly a range of different
scene transitions and broad natural landscape shots, to propel the
film's narrative. As well as his proclivity for arresting visuals,
Lean's films are largely character- and plot-driven, often featuring
flawed protagonists who are largely blind to their shortcomings until
it is too late, most notably in The Bridge on the River Kwai. Lean's
films are also noted for their use of extended flashbacks and
narrative framing devices, most notably in Brief Encounter, Lawrence
of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, as well as for stories of illicit
romances, as in Brief Encounter, The Passionate Friends, Doctor
Zhivago and Ryan's Daughter.
Lean was also notorious for his perfectionist approach to filmmaking;
director
Claude Chabrol

Claude Chabrol stated that he and Lean were the only
directors working at the time who were prepared to wait "forever" for
the perfect sunset, but whereas Chabrol measured "forever" in terms of
days, Lean did so in terms of months.[32]
Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg and
Martin Scorsese
.jpg/440px-Martin_Scorsese_Berlinale_2010_(cropped).jpg)
Martin Scorsese in particular are fans of Lean's
epic films, and claim him as one of their primary influences.
Spielberg and Scorsese also helped in the 1989 restoration of Lawrence
of Arabia which had been substantially altered both by the studio in
theatrical release and in particular in its televised versions; the
theatrical re-release greatly revived Lean's reputation.
Several of the many other later twentieth century directors who have
acknowledged significant influence by Lean include Stanley
Kubrick,[33] George Lucas,[34] Spike Lee,[35] and Sergio Leone.[36]
John Woo

John Woo once named Lawrence of Arabia among his top three films.[37]
More recently,
Joe Wright

Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement) has cited
Lean's works, particularly Doctor Zhivago, as an important influence
on his work,[38] as has director
Christopher Nolan
.jpg/440px-Christopher_Nolan,_London,_2013_(crop).jpg)
Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight
Rises).[39]
The critical verdict was not unanimous, however. For example, David
Thomson, writing about Lean in his New Biographical Dictionary of
Film, comments:
“
From 1952 to 1991, he made eight films—and in only one of them, I
suggest —Lawrence—is the spectacle sufficient to mask the hollow
rhetoric of the scripts. But Lean before 1952 made eight films in ten
years that are lively, stirring, and an inspiration—they make you
want to go out and make movies, they are so in love with the screen's
power and the combustion in editing."[40]
”
The New York Times

The New York Times film critic
Bosley Crowther dismissed Lawrence of
Arabia as "a huge, thundering camel-opera that tends to run down
rather badly as it rolls on into its third hour and gets involved with
sullen disillusion and political deceit",.[41] Writing about the same
film in The Village Voice,
Andrew Sarris remarked that Lawrence was
"...simply another expensive mirage, dull, overlong, and coldly
impersonal... on the whole I find it hatefully calculating and
condescending..."[42]
Filmography[edit]
Main article:
David Lean

David Lean filmography
Award and nominations[edit]
Academy Awards[edit]
Year
Category
Film
Result
1947
Best Director
Brief Encounter
Nominated
1947
Best Adapted Screenplay
Brief Encounter
(shared With
Anthony Havelock-Allan & Ronald Neame)
Nominated
1948
Best Director
Great Expectations
Nominated
1948
Best Adapted Screenplay
Great Expectations
(shared With
Anthony Havelock-Allan & Ronald Neame)
Nominated
1956
Best Director
Summertime
Nominated
1958
Best Director
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Won
1963
Best Director
Lawrence of Arabia
Won
1966
Best Director
Doctor Zhivago
Nominated
1985
Best Director
A Passage to India
Nominated
1985
Best Adapted Screenplay
A Passage to India
Nominated
1985
Best Film Editing
A Passage to India
Nominated
Golden Globe Awards[edit]
Year
Category
Film
Result
1958
Best Director
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Won
1963
Best Director
Lawrence of Arabia
Won
1966
Best Director
Doctor Zhivago
Won
1985
Best Director
A Passage to India
Nominated
1985
Best Screenplay
A Passage to India
Nominated
BAFTA

BAFTA Awards[edit]
Year
Category
Film
Result
1949
Best British Film
Oliver Twist
Nominated
1953
Best Film from any Source
The Sound Barrier
Won
1953
Best British Film
The Sound Barrier
Won
1955
Best Film from any Source
Hobson's Choice
Nominated
1955
Best British Screenplay
Hobson's Choice
(shared with Norman Spencer and Wynyard Browne)
Nominated
1956
Best Film from any Source
Summertime
(shared with Ilya Lopert)
Nominated
1958
Best Film from any Source
The Bridge on the River Kwai
(shared with Sam Spiegel)
Won
1958
Best British Film
The Bridge on the River Kwai
(shared with Sam Spiegel)
Won
1963
Best Film from any Source
Lawrence of Arabia
(shared with Sam Spiegel)
Won
1963
Best British Film
Lawrence of Arabia
(shared with Sam Spiegel)
Won
1967
Best Film from any Source
Doctor Zhivago
(shared with Carlo Ponti)
Nominated
1971
Best Direction
Ryan's Daughter
Nominated
1985
Best Film
A Passage to India
(shared with
John Brabourne and Richard B. Goodwin)
Nominated
1985
Best Adapted Screenplay
A Passage to India
Nominated
In 1974, Lean was awarded the
BAFTA

BAFTA Fellowship.
Other awards and nominations[edit]
Year
Award
Film
Result
1944
Silver Condor Award for Best Foreign Film
In Which We Serve
(shared with Noël Coward)
Won
1954
Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear
Hobson's Choice
Won
1946
Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix
Brief Encounter
Won
1949
Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix
The Passionate Friends
Nominated
1966
Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or
Doctor Zhivago
Nominated
1967
David di Donatello for Best Foreign Director
Doctor Zhivago
Won
1958
Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing - Feature
Film
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Won
1963
Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing - Feature
Film
Lawrence of Arabia
Won
1971
Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing - Feature
Film
Ryan's Daughter
Nominated
1985
Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing - Feature
Film
A Passage to India
Nominated
1974
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Film
Ryan's Daughter
Won
1946
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation
Blithe Spirit
Won
1964
Nastro d'Argento for Best Foreign Director
Lawrence of Arabia
Won
1984
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director
A Passage to India
Won
1964
Kinema Junpo Award

Kinema Junpo Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Lawrence of Arabia
Won
1952
National Board of Review Award for Best Director
The Sound Barrier
Won
1957
National Board of Review Award for Best Director
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Won
1962
National Board of Review Award for Best Director
Lawrence of Arabia
Won
1984
National Board of Review Award for Best Director
A Passage to India
Won
1985
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director
A Passage to India
3rd place
1942
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director
In Which We Serve
2nd place
1953
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director
The Sound Barrier
3rd place
1955
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director
Summertime
Won
1957
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Won
1965
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director
Doctor Zhivago
2nd place
1984
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director
A Passage to India
Won
1948
Venice

Venice Film Festival Grand International Award
Oliver Twist
Nominated
1984
Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
A Passage to India
Nominated
Notes[edit]
^ Bergan, Ronald (2006). Film. London: Doring Kindersley. p. 321.
ISBN 978-1-4053-1280-6.
^ Indiana Jones' Influences: Inspirations. TheRaider.net. Retrieved on
2011-05-29.
^ The Kubrick Site FAQ. Visual-memory.co.uk. Retrieved on 2011-05-29.
^ Ridley Scott's Brilliant First Film. newyorker.com (28 May 2012).
Retrieved on 2017-09-07.
^ The directors’ top ten directors. Bfi.org.uk (5 September 2006).
Retrieved on 2011-05-29.
^ The BFI 100: 1–10. Bfi.org.uk (6 September 2006). Retrieved on
2011-05-29.
^ The BFI 100: 11–20 Archived 3 June 2004 at the Wayback Machine.
Bfi.org.uk (6 September 2006). Retrieved on 2011-05-29.
^ a b c Smith, Julia Llewelyn. "Sandra Cooke: 'I always liked asking
about his other women'". London: The Independent. Retrieved 17
September 2011.
^ Brownlow, Kevin (1996). David Lean: A Biography. New York: St
Martin's Press. p. 39. ISBN 0312168101.
^ the Guardian, April 17, 1991
^ Phillips, Gene D. (2006). Beyond the Epic: The Life & Films of
David Lean. Lexington, Kentucky, USA: The University Press of
Kentucky. ISBN 9780813124155.
^ Sloman, Tony (1999). "Obituary: Harold Kress", The Independent, 26
October 1999. Online version retrieved 8 April 2009.
^ Shipman, David (1984). The Story of Cinema Volume Two: From Citizen
Kane to the Present. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 775.
^ Beyond the Epic: The Life and Films of David Lean, University Press
of Kentucky, 2006, pp.135–36
^ Phillips, p.139
^ Thomson, David (10 May 2008). "Unhealed wounds". The Guardian.
Retrieved 31 December 2015.
^ [1]. "Paul Greengrass:
David Lean

David Lean LectureBAFTA". Retrieved 28 May
2017.
^ Wolcott, James (April 1997). "Waiting for Godard". Vanity Fair
(Conde Nast)
^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvB-u7vVZus
^ [2] Archived 5 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
^ McGee, Scott. "A Passage to India". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved
13 September 2016.
^ Kerr, Walter (1985). "Films are made in the Cutting Room", New York
Times, 17 March 1985. Online version retrieved 15 November 2007.
^ http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-passage-to-india-1984
^ "How we made Hobson's Choice". Guardian. Retrieved 1 July
2014.
^ Collins, Andrew (4 May 2008). "The epic legacy of David Lean".
Newspaper feature. London: The Observer. Retrieved 17 September
2011.
^ "The Hyderabad connection". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 21 May
2008.
^ "Brief encounters: How David Lean's sex life shaped his films".
London: The Independent. 29 June 2008.
^
David Lean

David Lean Foundation Archived 20 November 2008 at the Wayback
Machine..
David Lean

David Lean Foundation (18 July 2005). Retrieved on
2011-05-29.
^ "New faces on Sgt Pepper album cover for artist Peter Blake's 80th
birthday". The Guardian. 5 October 2016.
^ "Sir Peter Blake's new Beatles' Sgt Pepper's album cover". BBC. 8
November 2016.
^ Brownlow, p. 483
^ "
David Lean

David Lean - Great Director profile". Senses of Cinema. Retrieved 7
October 2017.
^
http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/polls-surveys/stanley-kubrick-cinephile
^ https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/may/04/features
^ http://www.vulture.com/2015/02/spike-lee-12-cultural-influences.html
^ http://exclaim.ca/film/article/good_bad_ugly-sergio_leone
^ Perce Nev, BBC. Retrieved 17 May 2007
^ Times Online report Archived 16 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
^
http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2012/07/31/christopher-nolan-reveals-five-films-that-influenced-the-dark-knight-rises/
^ Thomson, David (2002). The New Biographical Dictionary of Film.
London

London & New York: Little, Brown & Alfred A. Knopf.
pp. 503–4.
^
https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=950CEEDE1630EF3BBC4F52DFB4678389679EDE
^ https://greencardamom.github.io/BooksAndWriters/telawren.htm
References[edit]
Alain Silver

Alain Silver and James Ursini,
David Lean

David Lean and his Films, Silman-James,
1992.
Kevin Brownlow, David Lean, Faber & Faber, 1997.
Silverman, Stephen M., David Lean, Harry N. Abrams, 1989.
Santas, Constantine, The Epics Films of David Lean, Scarecrow Press,
2011
Turner, Adrian The Making of David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (Dragon's
World, Limpsfield UK, 1994)
Turner, Adrian Robert Bolt: Scenes from two lives (Hutchinson, London
1998)
Williams, Melanie, David Lean, (Manchester University Press, 2014)
Morris, L. Robert and Lawrence Raskin, Lawrence of Arabia: the 30th
Anniversary Pictorial History, Anchor Books, Doubleday, 1992
Further reading[edit]
"Sir
David Lean

David Lean - Obituary". Daily Telegraph. 17 April 1991. Retrieved
2014-06-22. Unsigned obituary of Lean.
Lane, Anthony (31 March 2008). "Master and Commander: Remembering
David Lean". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2014-06-22. Lane's
appreciation of Lean on his centennial
Silver, Alain (February 2004). "David Lean". Senses of Cinema (30).
Retrieved 2014-06-22. Silver's essay on Lean's career compiled
as part of the Senses of Cinema Great Directors series.
Thomson, David (9 May 2008). "Unhealed wounds". Retrieved
2014-06-22. Thomson's appreciation of Lean on the occasion of
his centennial.
Constantine Santas, "The Epic Films of David Lean." Scarecrow Press,
Lanham, Maryland, 2012. IBSN 978-08108-2.
External links[edit]
David Lean

David Lean on IMDb
David Lean

David Lean Archive on the
BAFTA

BAFTA website
David Lean

David Lean at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
Biography at British Film Institute
Mean Lean Filmmaking Machine, by Armond White, New York Press 3
September 2008
Honours from the Queen
David Lean

David Lean Foundation. Charity which makes grants to restore Lean's
films, and to film studies students.
Literature on David Lean
Preceded by
Richard Attenborough, CBE
NFTS Honorary Fellowship
Succeeded by
Nick Park, CBE
v
t
e
Films directed by David Lean
In Which We Serve

In Which We Serve (1942)
This Happy Breed (1944)
Blithe Spirit (1945)
Brief Encounter

Brief Encounter (1945)
Great Expectations (1946)
Oliver Twist (1948)
The Passionate Friends

The Passionate Friends (1949)
Madeleine (1950)
The Sound Barrier

The Sound Barrier (1952)
Hobson's Choice (1954)
Summertime (1955)
The Bridge on the River Kwai

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Ryan's Daughter

Ryan's Daughter (1970)
Lost and Found: The Story of Cook's Anchor (1979)
A Passage to India

A Passage to India (1984)
Awards for David Lean
v
t
e
Academy Award for Best Director
1927–1950
Frank Borzage

Frank Borzage (1927)
Lewis Milestone

Lewis Milestone (1928)
Frank Lloyd

Frank Lloyd (1929)
Lewis Milestone

Lewis Milestone (1930)
Norman Taurog

Norman Taurog (1931)
Frank Borzage

Frank Borzage (1932)
Frank Lloyd

Frank Lloyd (1933)
Frank Capra

Frank Capra (1934)
John Ford

John Ford (1935)
Frank Capra

Frank Capra (1936)
Leo McCarey (1937)
Frank Capra

Frank Capra (1938)
Victor Fleming

Victor Fleming (1939)
John Ford

John Ford (1940)
John Ford

John Ford (1941)
William Wyler

William Wyler (1942)
Michael Curtiz

Michael Curtiz (1943)
Leo McCarey (1944)
Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder (1945)
William Wyler

William Wyler (1946)
Elia Kazan

Elia Kazan (1947)
John Huston

John Huston (1948)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1949)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1950)
1951–1975
George Stevens

George Stevens (1951)
John Ford

John Ford (1952)
Fred Zinnemann

Fred Zinnemann (1953)
Elia Kazan

Elia Kazan (1954)
Delbert Mann

Delbert Mann (1955)
George Stevens

George Stevens (1956)
David Lean

David Lean (1957)
Vincente Minnelli

Vincente Minnelli (1958)
William Wyler

William Wyler (1959)
Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder (1960)
Jerome Robbins

Jerome Robbins and
Robert Wise

Robert Wise (1961)
David Lean

David Lean (1962)
Tony Richardson

Tony Richardson (1963)
George Cukor

George Cukor (1964)
Robert Wise

Robert Wise (1965)
Fred Zinnemann

Fred Zinnemann (1966)
Mike Nichols

Mike Nichols (1967)
Carol Reed

Carol Reed (1968)
John Schlesinger

John Schlesinger (1969)
Franklin J. Schaffner

Franklin J. Schaffner (1970)
William Friedkin

William Friedkin (1971)
Bob Fosse

Bob Fosse (1972)
George Roy Hill (1973)
Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola (1974)
Miloš Forman

Miloš Forman (1975)
1976–2000
John G. Avildsen

John G. Avildsen (1976)
Woody Allen

Woody Allen (1977)
Michael Cimino

Michael Cimino (1978)
Robert Benton (1979)
Robert Redford
.jpg/440px-Robert_Redford_(cropped).jpg)
Robert Redford (1980)
Warren Beatty

Warren Beatty (1981)
Richard Attenborough

Richard Attenborough (1982)
James L. Brooks

James L. Brooks (1983)
Miloš Forman

Miloš Forman (1984)
Sydney Pollack

Sydney Pollack (1985)
Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone (1986)
Bernardo Bertolucci

Bernardo Bertolucci (1987)
Barry Levinson

Barry Levinson (1988)
Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone (1989)
Kevin Costner

Kevin Costner (1990)
Jonathan Demme

Jonathan Demme (1991)
Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood (1992)
Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg (1993)
Robert Zemeckis

Robert Zemeckis (1994)
Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson (1995)
Anthony Minghella

Anthony Minghella (1996)
James Cameron

James Cameron (1997)
Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg (1998)
Sam Mendes

Sam Mendes (1999)
Steven Soderbergh
.jpg/440px-Steven_Soderbergh_66ème_Festival_de_Venise_(Mostra).jpg)
Steven Soderbergh (2000)
2001–present
Ron Howard

Ron Howard (2001)
Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski (2002)
Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson (2003)
Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood (2004)
Ang Lee
.jpg/440px-Ang_Lee_-_66ème_Festival_de_Venise_(Mostra).jpg)
Ang Lee (2005)
Martin Scorsese
.jpg/440px-Martin_Scorsese_Berlinale_2010_(cropped).jpg)
Martin Scorsese (2006)
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (2007)
Danny Boyle

Danny Boyle (2008)
Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow (2009)
Tom Hooper

Tom Hooper (2010)
Michel Hazanavicius

Michel Hazanavicius (2011)
Ang Lee
.jpg/440px-Ang_Lee_-_66ème_Festival_de_Venise_(Mostra).jpg)
Ang Lee (2012)
Alfonso Cuarón
_cropped.jpg/440px-Alfonso_Cuarón_(2013)_cropped.jpg)
Alfonso Cuarón (2013)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu (2014)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu (2015)
Damien Chazelle
.jpg/440px-Damien_Chazelle_on_the_set_of_La_La_Land_(cropped).jpg)
Damien Chazelle (2016)
Guillermo del Toro

Guillermo del Toro (2017)
v
t
e
AFI Life Achievement Award
John Ford

John Ford (1973)
James Cagney

James Cagney (1974)
Orson Welles

Orson Welles (1975)
William Wyler

William Wyler (1976)
Bette Davis

Bette Davis (1977)
Henry Fonda
.JPG/440px-Henry_Fonda_as_Mr._Roberts_1948_(cropped).JPG)
Henry Fonda (1978)
Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock (1979)
James Stewart
_01.jpg/440px-Annex_-_Stewart,_James_(Call_Northside_777)_01.jpg)
James Stewart (1980)
Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire (1981)
Frank Capra

Frank Capra (1982)
John Huston

John Huston (1983)
Lillian Gish

Lillian Gish (1984)
Gene Kelly

Gene Kelly (1985)
Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder (1986)
Barbara Stanwyck

Barbara Stanwyck (1987)
Jack Lemmon

Jack Lemmon (1988)
Gregory Peck

Gregory Peck (1989)
David Lean

David Lean (1990)
Kirk Douglas

Kirk Douglas (1991)
Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier (1992)
Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor (1993)
Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson (1994)
Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg (1995)
Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood (1996)
Martin Scorsese
.jpg/440px-Martin_Scorsese_Berlinale_2010_(cropped).jpg)
Martin Scorsese (1997)
Robert Wise

Robert Wise (1998)
Dustin Hoffman

Dustin Hoffman (1999)
Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford (2000)
Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand (2001)
Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks (2002)
Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro (2003)
Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep (2004)
George Lucas

George Lucas (2005)
Sean Connery

Sean Connery (2006)
Al Pacino

Al Pacino (2007)
Warren Beatty

Warren Beatty (2008)
Michael Douglas

Michael Douglas (2009)
Mike Nichols

Mike Nichols (2010)
Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman (2011)
Shirley MacLaine

Shirley MacLaine (2012)
Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks (2013)
Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda (2014)
Steve Martin

Steve Martin (2015)
John Williams

John Williams (2016)
Diane Keaton
.jpg/440px-Diane_Keaton_2012-1_(cropped).jpg)
Diane Keaton (2017)
George Clooney

George Clooney (2018)
v
t
e
BAFTA Fellowship recipients
1971–2000
Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock (1971)
Freddie Young (1972)
Grace Wyndham Goldie (1973)
David Lean

David Lean (1974)
Jacques Cousteau
.jpg/440px-Cousteau1972_(cropped).jpg)
Jacques Cousteau (1975)
Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin (1976)
Laurence Olivier

Laurence Olivier (1976)
Denis Forman (1977)
Fred Zinnemann

Fred Zinnemann (1978)
Lew Grade

Lew Grade (1979)
Huw Wheldon

Huw Wheldon (1979)
David Attenborough

David Attenborough (1980)
John Huston

John Huston (1980)
Abel Gance

Abel Gance (1981)
Michael Powell

Michael Powell &
Emeric Pressburger

Emeric Pressburger (1981)
Andrzej Wajda
.jpg/440px-Andrzej_Wajda_OFF_Plus_Camera_2012_(cropped).jpg)
Andrzej Wajda (1982)
Richard Attenborough

Richard Attenborough (1983)
Hugh Greene (1984)
Sam Spiegel

Sam Spiegel (1984)
Jeremy Isaacs (1985)
Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg (1986)
Federico Fellini

Federico Fellini (1987)
Ingmar Bergman

Ingmar Bergman (1988)
Alec Guinness

Alec Guinness (1989)
Paul Fox (1990)
Louis Malle

Louis Malle (1991)
John Gielgud

John Gielgud (1992)
David Plowright (1992)
Sydney Samuelson (1993)
Colin Young (1993)
Michael Grade

Michael Grade (1994)
Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder (1995)
Jeanne Moreau

Jeanne Moreau (1996)
Ronald Neame

Ronald Neame (1996)
John Schlesinger

John Schlesinger (1996)
Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith (1996)
Woody Allen

Woody Allen (1997)
Steven Bochco

Steven Bochco (1997)
Julie Christie
_(2).jpg/440px-Julie_Christie_(1997)_(2).jpg)
Julie Christie (1997)
Oswald Morris (1997)
Harold Pinter

Harold Pinter (1997)
David Rose (1997)
Sean Connery

Sean Connery (1998)
Bill Cotton

Bill Cotton (1998)
Eric Morecambe

Eric Morecambe &
Ernie Wise

Ernie Wise (1999)
Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor (1999)
Michael Caine
.jpg/440px-Michael_Caine_-_Viennale_2012_g_(cropped).jpg)
Michael Caine (2000)
Stanley Kubrick
.jpg)
Stanley Kubrick (2000)
Peter Bazalgette

Peter Bazalgette (2000)
2001–present
Albert Finney

Albert Finney (2001)
John Thaw

John Thaw (2001)
Judi Dench

Judi Dench (2001)
Warren Beatty

Warren Beatty (2002)
Merchant Ivory Productions (2002)
Andrew Davies (2002)
John Mills

John Mills (2002)
Saul Zaentz

Saul Zaentz (2003)
David Jason (2003)
John Boorman

John Boorman (2004)
Roger Graef (2004)
John Barry (2005)
David Frost

David Frost (2005)
David Puttnam

David Puttnam (2006)
Ken Loach

Ken Loach (2006)
Anne V. Coates (2007)
Richard Curtis

Richard Curtis (2007)
Will Wright (2007)
Anthony Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins (2008)
Bruce Forsyth

Bruce Forsyth (2008)
Dawn French

Dawn French &
Jennifer Saunders

Jennifer Saunders (2009)
Terry Gilliam

Terry Gilliam (2009)
Nolan Bushnell

Nolan Bushnell (2009)
Vanessa Redgrave

Vanessa Redgrave (2010)
Shigeru Miyamoto
.JPG/440px-Shigeru_Miyamoto_at_E3_2013_1_(cropped).JPG)
Shigeru Miyamoto (2010)
Melvyn Bragg

Melvyn Bragg (2010)
Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee (2011)
Peter Molyneux

Peter Molyneux (2011)
Trevor McDonald (2011)
Martin Scorsese
.jpg/440px-Martin_Scorsese_Berlinale_2010_(cropped).jpg)
Martin Scorsese (2012)
Rolf Harris

Rolf Harris (2012)
Alan Parker
,_London,_2012.jpg/440px-Alan_Parker_(Director),_London,_2012.jpg)
Alan Parker (2013)
Gabe Newell

Gabe Newell (2013)
Michael Palin

Michael Palin (2013)
Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren (2014)
Rockstar Games

Rockstar Games (2014)
Julie Walters

Julie Walters (2014)
Mike Leigh
_cropped.jpg/440px-Mike_Leigh_(Berlinale_2012)_cropped.jpg)
Mike Leigh (2015)
David Braben (2015)
Jon Snow (2015)
Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier (2016)
John Carmack

John Carmack (2016)
Ray Galton & Alan Simpson (2016)
Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks (2017)
Joanna Lumley

Joanna Lumley (2017)
Ridley Scott

Ridley Scott (2018)
v
t
e
Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature
Film
1948–1975
Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1948)
Robert Rossen

Robert Rossen (1949)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1950)
George Stevens

George Stevens (1951)
John Ford

John Ford (1952)
Fred Zinnemann

Fred Zinnemann (1953)
Elia Kazan

Elia Kazan (1954)
Delbert Mann

Delbert Mann (1955)
George Stevens

George Stevens (1956)
David Lean

David Lean (1957)
Vincente Minnelli

Vincente Minnelli (1958)
William Wyler

William Wyler (1959)
Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder (1960)
Jerome Robbins

Jerome Robbins and
Robert Wise

Robert Wise (1961)
David Lean

David Lean (1962)
Tony Richardson

Tony Richardson (1963)
George Cukor

George Cukor (1964)
Robert Wise

Robert Wise (1965)
Fred Zinnemann

Fred Zinnemann (1966)
Mike Nichols

Mike Nichols (1967)
Anthony Harvey (1968)
John Schlesinger

John Schlesinger (1969)
Franklin J. Schaffner

Franklin J. Schaffner (1970)
William Friedkin

William Friedkin (1971)
Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola (1972)
George Roy Hill (1973)
Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola (1974)
Miloš Forman

Miloš Forman (1975)
1976–2000
John G. Avildsen

John G. Avildsen (1976)
Woody Allen

Woody Allen (1977)
Michael Cimino

Michael Cimino (1978)
Robert Benton (1979)
Robert Redford
.jpg/440px-Robert_Redford_(cropped).jpg)
Robert Redford (1980)
Warren Beatty

Warren Beatty (1981)
Richard Attenborough

Richard Attenborough (1982)
James L. Brooks

James L. Brooks (1983)
Miloš Forman

Miloš Forman (1984)
Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg (1985)
Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone (1986)
Bernardo Bertolucci

Bernardo Bertolucci (1987)
Barry Levinson

Barry Levinson (1988)
Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone (1989)
Kevin Costner

Kevin Costner (1990)
Jonathan Demme

Jonathan Demme (1991)
Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood (1992)
Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg (1993)
Robert Zemeckis

Robert Zemeckis (1994)
Ron Howard

Ron Howard (1995)
Anthony Minghella

Anthony Minghella (1996)
James Cameron

James Cameron (1997)
Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg (1998)
Sam Mendes

Sam Mendes (1999)
Ang Lee
.jpg/440px-Ang_Lee_-_66ème_Festival_de_Venise_(Mostra).jpg)
Ang Lee (2000)
2001–present
Ron Howard

Ron Howard (2001)
Rob Marshall

Rob Marshall (2002)
Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson (2003)
Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood (2004)
Ang Lee
.jpg/440px-Ang_Lee_-_66ème_Festival_de_Venise_(Mostra).jpg)
Ang Lee (2005)
Martin Scorsese
.jpg/440px-Martin_Scorsese_Berlinale_2010_(cropped).jpg)
Martin Scorsese (2006)
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (2007)
Danny Boyle

Danny Boyle (2008)
Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow (2009)
Tom Hooper

Tom Hooper (2010)
Michel Hazanavicius

Michel Hazanavicius (2011)
Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck (2012)
Alfonso Cuarón
_cropped.jpg/440px-Alfonso_Cuarón_(2013)_cropped.jpg)
Alfonso Cuarón (2013)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu (2014)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu (2015)
Damien Chazelle
.jpg/440px-Damien_Chazelle_on_the_set_of_La_La_Land_(cropped).jpg)
Damien Chazelle (2016)
Guillermo del Toro

Guillermo del Toro (2017)
v
t
e
Golden Globe Award for Best Director
Henry King (1943)
Leo McCarey (1944)
Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder (1945)
Frank Capra

Frank Capra (1946)
Elia Kazan

Elia Kazan (1947)
John Huston

John Huston (1948)
Robert Rossen

Robert Rossen (1949)
Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder (1950)
László Benedek (1951)
Cecil B. DeMille

Cecil B. DeMille (1952)
Fred Zinnemann

Fred Zinnemann (1953)
Elia Kazan

Elia Kazan (1954)
Joshua Logan (1955)
Elia Kazan

Elia Kazan (1956)
David Lean

David Lean (1957)
Vincente Minnelli

Vincente Minnelli (1958)
William Wyler

William Wyler (1959)
Jack Cardiff

Jack Cardiff (1960)
Stanley Kramer

Stanley Kramer (1961)
David Lean

David Lean (1962)
Elia Kazan

Elia Kazan (1963)
George Cukor

George Cukor (1964)
David Lean

David Lean (1965)
Fred Zinnemann

Fred Zinnemann (1966)
Mike Nichols

Mike Nichols (1967)
Paul Newman

Paul Newman (1968)
Charles Jarrott (1969)
Arthur Hiller

Arthur Hiller (1970)
William Friedkin

William Friedkin (1971)
Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola (1972)
William Friedkin

William Friedkin (1973)
Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski (1974)
Miloš Forman

Miloš Forman (1975)
Sidney Lumet

Sidney Lumet (1976)
Herbert Ross (1977)
Michael Cimino

Michael Cimino (1978)
Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola (1979)
Robert Redford
.jpg/440px-Robert_Redford_(cropped).jpg)
Robert Redford (1980)
Warren Beatty

Warren Beatty (1981)
Richard Attenborough

Richard Attenborough (1982)
Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand (1983)
Miloš Forman

Miloš Forman (1984)
John Huston

John Huston (1985)
Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone (1986)
Bernardo Bertolucci

Bernardo Bertolucci (1987)
Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood (1988)
Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone (1989)
Kevin Costner

Kevin Costner (1990)
Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone (1991)
Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood (1992)
Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg (1993)
Robert Zemeckis

Robert Zemeckis (1994)
Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson (1995)
Miloš Forman

Miloš Forman (1996)
James Cameron

James Cameron (1997)
Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg (1998)
Sam Mendes

Sam Mendes (1999)
Ang Lee
.jpg/440px-Ang_Lee_-_66ème_Festival_de_Venise_(Mostra).jpg)
Ang Lee (2000)
Robert Altman

Robert Altman (2001)
Martin Scorsese
.jpg/440px-Martin_Scorsese_Berlinale_2010_(cropped).jpg)
Martin Scorsese (2002)
Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson (2003)
Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood (2004)
Ang Lee
.jpg/440px-Ang_Lee_-_66ème_Festival_de_Venise_(Mostra).jpg)
Ang Lee (2005)
Martin Scorsese
.jpg/440px-Martin_Scorsese_Berlinale_2010_(cropped).jpg)
Martin Scorsese (2006)
Julian Schnabel
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Julian Schnabel (2007)
Danny Boyle

Danny Boyle (2008)
James Cameron

James Cameron (2009)
David Fincher
_3.jpg)
David Fincher (2010)
Martin Scorsese
.jpg/440px-Martin_Scorsese_Berlinale_2010_(cropped).jpg)
Martin Scorsese (2011)
Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck (2012)
Alfonso Cuarón
_cropped.jpg/440px-Alfonso_Cuarón_(2013)_cropped.jpg)
Alfonso Cuarón (2013)
Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater (2014)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu (2015)
Damien Chazelle
.jpg/440px-Damien_Chazelle_on_the_set_of_La_La_Land_(cropped).jpg)
Damien Chazelle (2016)
Guillermo del Toro

Guillermo del Toro (2017)
Authority control
WorldCat Identities
VIAF: 112356433
LCCN: n80109902
ISNI: 0000 0001 0936 4538
GND: 118779087
SELIBR: 302009
SUDOC: 029467926
BNF: cb12108950k (data)
ULAN: 500336322
NLA: 35228877
NDL: 01135625
NKC: mzk2004240025
BNE: XX936888
SN