David Lean
大卫·里恩
British director, 1908–1991. He trained as an editor and made modestly scaled films in the 1940s, among them Brief Encounter and Great Expectations, before turning to large productions from the 1950s onwards, including The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago. He received the Academy Award for Best Director twice.
Career
Lean started in the studios in 1927 doing odd jobs, became one of the most sought-after editors in Britain in the 1930s, and moved to directing in 1942 when he co-directed In Which We Serve with Noël Coward. Brief Encounter, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist followed after the war.
The Bridge on the River Kwai in 1957 and Lawrence of Arabia in 1962 each won him the Academy Award for directing, and he worked mainly on large productions shot on location from then on. Ryan's Daughter was attacked by critics in 1970, after which he did not direct for fourteen years, until A Passage to India in 1984. He died in 1991.
