DAVID LEAN (personality)

David Lean was born in Croydon, Surrey, England in 1908. His parents were Quakers, and he was not allowed to go to the movies! But he got a job in a studio when he was 19, and he worked his way up from lowly jobs to become a film editor, working on some top movies by the end of the 1930s. In 1942, Noel Coward hired Lean to co-direct his movie 'In Which We Serve'. The success of this movie led Lean to direct This Happy Breed and Blithe Spirit. In 1945, Lean directed Brief Encounter, the best "little" movie ever made, and if you like romantic movies and have never seen these, I want you to promise to see this just as soon as you can (it IS that good!), Lean followed with two Dickens' movies, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. After several more fine movies such as Summertime (nominated for the Best Director Academy Award for this film), Lean made the epic The Bridge on the River Kwai in 1957, followed by the even more epic Lawrence of Arabia. These cemented his reputation as THE epic director, and he followed with Doctor Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter and finally A Passage to India in 1984, his last movie and he passed away in 1991 at the age of 83. David Lean made wonderful epic movies, but I equally enjoy his pre-epic smaller movies, and highly recommend those as well!