David Lynch. Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
David Lynch, the filmmaker who changed the face of cinema with his dark and daring visions of human nature, has died at age 78.
Lynch's passing was announced on January 16 by his family on Facebook. "There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, 'Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.' It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way." In 2024, Lynch, a prolific smoker, revealed that he had been diagnosed with emphysema.
Lynch's career was defined by an uncompromising surrealist vision that improbably found commercial success with Western audiences. As a young artist enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Lynch painted and made some of his first short films. But it was his 1977 feature length debut Eraserhead that brought him widespread notoriety, mystifying midnight moviegoers and critics alike.
Hugely influential and commercially successful, Eraserhead would set the tone for the majority of Lynch's career. His follow-up The Elephant Man was nominated for eight Oscars in 1980, and his fourth film, 1986's Blue Velvet is consistently ranked as one of the best in movie history.
David Lynch at a 2006 screening of Blue Velvet in Los Angeles.
Katie Hawkins/WireImage/Getty Images
Blue Velvet was Lynch's second collaboration with actor Kyle MacLachlan, a partnership that would find massive global success with the detective television show Twin Peaks, premiering in 1990 on ABC. Co-created with Mark Frost, Twin Peaks followed Detective Dale Cooper (played by MacLachlan) who searches for the murderer of teenager Laura Palmer in the titular mountain town.
Twin Peaks was an immediate cultural sensation, enrapturing audiences with its mixture of horror, drama, and vintage sitcom convention. However, network meddling soured Lynch on the project, who left during production of the second season. The show's quality dipped and ratings followed suit, leading to its cancellation. A sequel film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me was released in 1992, and the show was revived 25 years later for a third season on Showtime; both follow-ups, while they never reached the same audience as Twin Peaks' first season, are regarded by critics as some of the best work of Lynch's career.
In 1999, Lynch sought a return to television, shooting a pilot called Mulholland Drive. A lack of interest from networks led Lynch to reconfigure the show as a feature film; released in 2001 and starring Naomi Watts, Mulholland Drive received the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival and Lynch's third Oscar nomination for the same award. Lynch's final feature film, Mulholland Drive, was released in 2006.
An avid music lover, Lynch made the sonic world of his films a central part of his artistic practice. He released his debut solo album Crazy Clown Time in 2011 on Sacred Bones. His second solo LP, The Big Dream, was released in 2013. Lynch was also a prolific collaborator, most recently sharing the Chrystabell collaboration Cellophane Memories in 2024.
