Yahoo Lifestyle David Lynch, 'Twin Peaks' and 'Blue Velvet' Director, Dead at 78
David Lynch, the visionary director and writer behind such groundbreaking films and TV series as Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive and Twin Peaks, has died. He was 78 years old.
Lynch's family shared the news of his death in a post on his Facebook page, writing, "It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch. We would appreciate some privacy at this time."
They added, "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."
Lynch was left housebound after being diagnosed with emphysema in 2024.
“I’ve gotten emphysema from smoking for so long and so I’m homebound whether I like it or not,” he told Sight & Sound at the time. “It would be very bad for me to get sick, even with a cold.”
Born on Jan. 20, 1946, in Missoula, Mont., Lynch grew up in the Pacific Northwest and Southeast, attending high school in Alexandria, Va. He studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
Lynch made his feature debut in 1977 with the critically-acclaimed cult classic Eraserhead, the success of which led to him being hired to write and direct The Elephant Man in 1980. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Lynch’s first nod for Best Director.
He scored his second Oscar nomination for Blue Velvet (1986), a psychosexual thriller starring Kyle MacLachlan. However, it was his next collaboration with the actor that "revolutionized American episodic TV," according to Variety.
Twin Peaks, which debuted in 1990 on ABC, brought Lynch's dark, surrealistic sensibility to living rooms across the country every week, with viewers everywhere asking the question: “Who killed Laura Palmer?” While it lasted for just two seasons, the series led to a feature-length prequel, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992); 25 years later, Twin Peaks: The Return debuted on Showtime, picking up where the end of the second season left off.
Lynch continued to explore dark, surrealistic themes with the film Lost Highway (1997), while the biographical road drama The Straight Story (1999) was something of a departure.
Mulholland Drive (2001) is considered by many to be Lynch's masterpiece. Starring Naomi Watts, the neo-noir thriller won him the best director award at Cannes that year. His next film, Inland Empire (2006), was the last movie he directed (and his longest, with a running time of three hours).
Despite multiple nominations, Lynch never won a competitive Academy Award; however, he was presented with an honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 2019.
Oftentimes enigmatic, his body of work has been endlessly analyzed by viewers and critics alike—but Lynch never seemed interested in providing answers to the many questions he raised.
He addressed the mysterious nature of his art in the 2005 collection of interviews Lynch On Lynch, per Variety.
“Well, imagine if you did find a book of riddles, and you could start unraveling them, but they were really complicated. Mysteries would become apparent and thrill you," he said. "We all find this book of riddles and it’s just what’s going on. And you can figure them out. The problem is, you figure them out inside yourself, and even if you told somebody, they wouldn’t believe you or understand it in the same way you do.”
Lynch was married four times and is survived by two daughters and two sons.
