
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).

Lawrence of Arabia
1962 · as Motorcyclist by Suez Canal (uncredited)

Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean
2026 · as Self (archive footage)

Pasternak
1965 · as Self (archive footage)

Moscow in Madrid
1965 · as Self

Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast
2019 · as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)

Doctor Zhivago: A Celebration
2010 · as Self (Archive Footage)

The Making of Lawrence of Arabia
2001 · as Self (archive footage)

Wind Sand and Star
1963

David Lean: A Self Portrait
1971 · as Self

The Golden Gong: The Story of Rank Films - British Cinema's Legendary Studio
1985 · as Self

Zhivago: Behind the Camera with David Lean
1965 · as Self

David Lean: A Life in Film
1985 · as Self

Omar Sharif: Citizen of the World
2020 · as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)

...On Seeing Film
1958 · as Self

E. M. Forster: His Longest Journey
2019 · as Self (archive footage)

Nostromo: David Lean's Impossible Dream
2017 · as Self (archive footage)

David Lean's Film of Doctor Zhivago
1965 · as Self

Lost and Found: The Story of Cook's Anchor
1979 · as himself