David Lean

When Doctor Zhivago was being made, at the end of every day the crew was one day saying that the performance by Alec Guinness was excellent, on another day that Julie Christie was brilliant and on some days that Rod Steiger was superb. Hearing this on a daily basis, Omar Sharif got very worried and asked Lean why he didn't have any great lines to say or some great scene to act. Lean reassured him by saying that although everyone would love the individual performances of the star cast, after the end of the movie they would only think of him and remember "Yuri".

Filmography: In Which We Serve (1942). This Happy Breed (1944). Blithe Spirit (1945). Brief Encounter (1945). Great Expectations (1946). Oliver Twist (1948). The Passionate Friends (1949). Madeleine (1950). The Sound Barrier (1952). Hobson's Choice (1954). Summertime (1955). The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Doctor Zhivago (1965). Ryan's Daughter (1970). A Passage to India (1984).

Lean was knighted in 1984.

Marlon Brando, Paul Scofield, Anthony Quinn, Christopher Lambert, Isabella Rossellini, and Dennis Quaid were among the ensemble cast set to star in Nostromo.

Directed some scenes of The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) while George Stevens was doing location work in Nevada. Most of his scenes involved Claude Rains and José Ferrer, both of whom had previous worked with Lean on Lawrence of Arabia.

Frequently attempted to work with Marlon Brando, but was never able to. He offered Brando the title role in Lawrence of Arabia, as well as the role of Victor Komarovsky in Doctor Zhivago (which went to Rod Steiger), and was also planning for him to be in his production of Nostromo which he had planned before his death.

A favorite director of Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, and innumerable others. Lucas has referenced his films (Lawrence of Arabia in particular) throughout his Star Wars film series.

He often cited John Ford as one of his favorite directors, and used that director's The Searchers (1956) in particular as a reference point while shooting his epic films (e.g. Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago).

Lean was a long-term resident of Limehouse, East London. His home on Narrow Street is still owned by his family.

He's sometimes credited as Sir David Lean.

Lean wanted to originally direct Empire of the Sun (1987), but due to his advancing age, he passed it to Steven Spielberg.

He was married six times. The first one with Isabel Lean from June 28 of 1930 until 1936 when he divorced her (they had a child), the second one with Kay Walsh from November 23 of 1940 until 1949 when they divorced, the third marriages was with Ann Todd from May 21 of 1949 until 1957 when they also divorced, the fourth time with Leila Matkar from July 4 of 1960 until 1978 when they divorce, the fifth time with Sandra Hotz from October 28 of 1981 until 1984 when they divorced and the sixth and last marriage with Sandra Cooke from December 15 of 1990 until April 16 of 1991 when he died.

He usually declined to discuss his personal life.

Another of his trademarks was to cast frequently English actor Alec Guinness.

One of his filmic trademarks was the significant role played by the trains or locomotives in the film's plot. You can see some examples of this in movies like Brief Encounter (1945), Summertime (1955), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and Doctor Zhivago (1965).

He was honoured with the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award in 1990.

Was well into final pre-production for the filming of Nostromo (based on the Joseph Conrad novel) when he died. Nostromo would eventually be made as a BBC mini-series.

According to Richard Schickel, Lean was so wounded by Pauline Kael and other critic's vicious attack on Ryan's Daughter (1970) that it kept him from directing another picture for 14 years, until A Passage to India (1984).

His third wife was previously married to his first cousin, Nigel Tangye.

His first wife was his first cousin, Isabel Lean (b. 1908).

Was voted the 34th Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Towards the end of his life, he said he'd like to have another go at filming Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago. The prerequisite for remaking the film would be the casting of Julie Christie once again as Lara, and since she was too old for the part, he wouldn't be able to do it.

Lean directed 11 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Celia Johnson, Katharine Hepburn, Alec Guinness, Sessue Hayakawa, Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, John Mills, Sarah Miles, Peggy Ashcroft and Judy Davis. Guiness, Mills and Ashcroft won for their performances in one of Lean's movies.

Lean was signed to direct several major stars including Marlon Brando, Dennis Quaid and Paul Scofield in a film version of Joseph Conrad's Nostromo when he was diagnosed with throat cancer, and died three months later. Consequently the film was never made.

Actor Peter O'Toole based his performance in The Stunt Man on him.

In his home town of Croydon, South London, there is a cinema named after him in the Croydon Clocktower Arts Centre.

Once screened Lawrence of Arabia (1962) with Steven Spielberg. Lean gave Spielberg a "live director's commentary," (as Spielberg put it). Spielberg said it was one of the best moments of his life, learning from a true master. Consequently, Spielberg stated that it helped him make better pictures, and that commentary directly influenced every movie he has made since.

According to Sarah Miles, Lean enjoyed pushing his actors to their personal limits and then breaking their limits of endurance, just for his own amusement.

He's 6' 2" (1.88 m).

Three of his movies appear on the list of the 100 best American films according to the American Film Asociation. The films are: No. 5 Lawrence of Arabia (1962). No. 13 The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). No. 39 Doctor Zhivago (1965).

He was voted 9th best director of all time in the BFI "Top Directors" poll 2002.