Lean, David (1908–1991)

English film director. His films, painstakingly crafted, include early work co-directed with the playwright Noël Coward, such as Brief Encounter (1946). Among his later films are such accomplished epics as The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957; Academy Award), Lawrence of Arabia (1962; Academy Award), and Dr Zhivago (1965).

The unfavourable critical reaction to Ryan's Daughter (1970) caused him to withdraw from film-making for over a decade, but A Passage to India (1984) represented a return to form. He was knighted in 1984. In 1990 he was awarded the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award.