David Lynch
David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Lynch received critical acclaim for his films, which are often distinguished by their surrealist, dreamlike qualities. In his 58-year career, he was awarded numerous accolades, including the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2006 and an Honorary Academy Award in 2019. In 2007, a panel of critics convened by The Guardian announced that "after all the discussion, no one could fault the conclusion that David Lynch is the most important filmmaker of the current era." Lynch studied painting before he began making short films in the late 1960s. His first feature-length film was the independent surrealist film Eraserhead (1977), which saw success as a midnight movie. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for the biographical drama The Elephant Man (1980) and the mystery films Blue Velvet (1986) and Mulholland Drive (2001). His romantic crime drama Wild at Heart (1990) won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He also directed the space opera adaptation Dune (1984), the surrealist neo-noir Lost Highway (1997), the biographical drama The Straight Story (1999), and the experimental film Inland Empire (2006). Lynch and Mark Frost created the ABC series Twin Peaks (1990–91), for which Lynch was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. Lynch co-wrote and directed its film prequel, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), and its limited series revival (2017). He has also worked as an actor, including his portrayals of FBI agent Gordon Cole in Twin Peaks and director John Ford in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans (2022), as well as guest roles in TV series such as The Cleveland Show (2010–13), Louie (2012), and Robot Chicken (2020, 2022). Lynch's other artistic endeavours included his work as a musician, encompassing the studio albums BlueBOB (2001), Crazy Clown Time (2011), and The Big Dream (2013), as well as painting and photography. He has written the books Images (1994), Catching the Big Fish (2006), and Room to Dream (2018). He has directed several music videos for artists such as Chris Isaak, X Japan, Moby, Interpol, Nine Inch Nails, and Donovan, and commercials for Calvin Klein, Dior, L'Oreal, Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, and the New York City Department of Sanitation. A practitioner of Transcendental Meditation (TM), he founded the David Lynch Foundation, which seeks to fund the teaching of TM in schools and has since widened its scope to other at-risk populations, including the homeless, veterans, and refugees.
Born: 20 January 1946 • Died: 16 January 2025
Played In
I Know Catherine, the Log Lady
Self
Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!
Self - Filmmaker
What Would David Lynch Do?
Self (Archived Footage)
The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld
The Making Of A Mockumentary
Himself (archive footage)
David Lynch: A Remembrance Both Wonderful and Strange
Self (archive footage)
Beatles '64
Self
Lynch/Oz
Self (archival footage)
The Fabelmans
John Ford
This Is Sparklehorse
Self
The Sleeper Must Awaken: Making Dune
Self (voice) (archive footage)
Morceaux de Cannes
Moby Doc
Self
Welcome Home: Mary Reber and the Twin Peaks Palmer House
Self
This Is Pop
Self (archive footage)
David Lynch: The Idea Dictates Everything
David Lynch
David Lynch: The Virtual Life
himself
Meeting the Beatles in India
Self
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
Self
The Original Image - David Lynch
David Lynch Teaches Creativity and Film
Himself
Curtains Up
Why Are We Creative?
Self
Twin Peaks: The Phenomenon
Self
Tell It Martin
Self
The Polish Accountant
Self
The Number of Completion
Self
See You on the Other Side Dear Friend
Self
Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers
Self
Bad Binoculars
Self
Two Blue Balls
Self
A Very Lovely Dream: One Week in Twin Peaks
Self
Behind the Red Curtain
Self
A Bloody Finger in Your Mouth
Self
I Had Bad Milk in Dehradun
Self
A Pot of Boiling Oil
Self
The Man with the Gray Elevated Hair
Self
WHAT DID JACK DO?
Detective
Plankton Salesmen
Self (archive footage)
Lucky
Howard
The Nineties
Self (archive footage)
The Black Ghiandola
Man In Black
David Lynch: The Art Life
Self
David Lynch: Insight
Self
Girlfriend's Day
Narrator (voice)
Rocksteppy
Himself
Along for the Ride
Self
Shadows of Paradise
Blue Velvet Revisited
Self
On Meditation
Self
The Reality of Truth
Self
Night Flight: Born Again
Self
The Music of David Lynch
Self
Rammstein in Amerika
Self
Brand: A Second Coming
Self
My Beautiful Broken Brain
Self
Between Two Worlds
Self
Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces
Gordon Cole
The 8th Floor
Self
It's a Beautiful World
Self
Ringo Starr: A Lifetime of Peace and Love
Self
Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction
Self
What Is Cinema?
Self
Mel Brooks: Make a Noise
Self
Professor Goudet's Lessons
Self
Memory Film
Meditation, Creativity, Peace
Self
Side by Side
Self
Ångesthunden och Malmö under vatten
Himself
David Lynch in Oslo
Self
2012: Time for Change
Self
Brunes et Blondes
Self
Louie
Jack Dall
David Wants to Fly
Self
When Lynch Met Lucas
The Cleveland Show
The Cleveland Show
Gus (voice)
Red Fish
O Sábio
The Way of Samodelkin
Stranger in a dream
Great Directors
Self
La Traversée du désir
Self
The Soul Detective
Himself
Twin Peaks Festival Greeting 2008
Self
Hollyshorts Greeting
Himself
Early Experiments
Elvis | Viva Las Vegas
Self
Critic
Self (voice)
The Sound of Lynch
A Slice of Lynch
Self
Lynch (one)
Self
Out Yonder — Chicken
Lynch 2
Self
Donovan: The Donovan Concert - Live in L.A.
Himself
Dynamic:01: The Best of DavidLynch.com
himself
Inland Empire
Bucky J, the gaffer (voice)
Legends
Self
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
Self
Robot Chicken
Mad Scientist (voice)
David Lynch: 1985
Self
Love, Death, Elvis & Oz: The Making of Wild at Heart
Dennis Hopper: The Decisive Moments
Self
The Making of ‘Mulholland Drive’
Self
Leçon de Cinéma
Self
Boat
The Man
Does That Hurt You?
Self
Lamp
Self
Return to Mulholland Drive
Self
Un film et son époque
Self
Out Yonder — Teeth
Dennis Hopper: Create (or Die)
Self
The Disc of Sorrow Is Installed
The Short Films of David Lynch
Self
Heart of the Festival
Self (archive footage)
I Don't Know Jack
Self
BlueBob Egg
Billy Groper
Mysteries of Love
Self (archive footage)
Out Yonder — Neighbor Boy
DumbLand
Randy / Wife / Sparky (voice)
Eraserhead Stories
Self
Dino De Laurentiis: The Last Movie Mogul
Self
In Dreams: The Roy Orbison Story
Self
Family Guy
Gus (voice)
Family Guy
David Lynch (voice)
The A-Z of Separating People from their Money
Self
Independent Focus
Self
Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch
Self
Scene by Scene
Self
The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money
Self
Lumière & Company
Self
Nadja
Morgue Receptionist
Don Van Vliet: Some YoYo Stuff
Himself
Made in the USA
Self
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
Gordon Cole
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Self
Crazy About the Movies: Dennis Hopper
Self
Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only: David Lynch
Self
Hollywood Mavericks
Self
Twin Peaks
Gordon Cole
Cinéma, de notre temps
David Lynch
David Lynch: Don't Look at Me
Self
Zelly & Me
Willie
No Frank in Lumberton
Self
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night
Self - Audience Member
Ruth, Roses, and Revolver
Himself
Dune
Spice Miner (uncredited)
Destination Dune
Self
The Elephant Man
Man in the Bowler Hat in the Mob Chasing Merrick (uncredited)
Heart Beat
Painter (uncredited)
The Amputee
The Nurse
Sailing with Bushnell Keeler
The Oscars
Self
A Fall from Grace
William Tabb