David Lynch, the enigmatic film-maker who revolutionized American cinema and television through his dark, surrealist vision, has died at the age of 78, less than a year after the lifelong smoker publicly revealed his struggles with emphysema.
Lynch forged an idiosyncratic career that bridged the experimental fringes and the mainstream. After a peripatetic, middle-class upbringing in the American mountain west, he studied painting and made several experimental short films before his cult-hit breakout, Eraserhead. His career – including the award-winning films Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart and Mulholland Drive, as well as the landmark TV show Twin Peaks – earned him an honorary lifetime achievement Oscar in 2019.
