David Lynch, 'Eraserhead' and 'Twin Peaks' director, dies at 78
David Lynch, the Oscar-nominated director of surrealistic films including "Eraserhead," "Blue Velvet" and "Mulholland Drive," and the co-creator of the cult drama series "Twin Peaks," has died, his family announced. He was 78.
"It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch," a statement on his official Facebook account said on Thursday. "We would appreciate some privacy at this time. 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.'"
The statement added, "It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way."
The filmmaker revealed in August 2024 that he had developed emphysema after years of smoking. "I'm homebound whether I like it or not," Lynch told Sight and Sound magazine. "I can't go out. And I can only walk a short distance before I'm out of oxygen."
Lynch added in a social media post at the time that he was otherwise "in excellent shape," declaring, "I am filled with happiness, and I will never retire."
An acclaimed film director, screenwriter, visual artist, musician and composer known for his surreal, and sometimes macabre works, Lynch was nominated for four Academy Awards over his more than six-decade career, though he only directed ten feature films between his 1977 debut, "Eraserhead," and his most recent feature, 2006's "Inland Empire." Singular in his artistic vision, Lynch in 2019 received an honorary Academy Award in recognition of his body of work and contribution to cinema.
He also received eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his 1990s TV series "Twin Peaks," which introduced the broader public to his eclectic style that often juxtaposed fantastical or dreamlike elements with mundane environments – a signature aesthetic that came to be described as "Lynchian."
"There's no 'launching a career,'" Lynch said in a 2006 interview about his approach to filmmaking. "They call it a film business but money is the last thing a person should be thinking about, in my book. You fall in love with ideas and you get fired up and you go and you try to translate those ideas into cinema. And it's a beautiful, beautiful journey. And so it has nothing to do with any kind of career. It has to do with the loving of doing."
Born in Missoula, Montana, on Jan. 20, 1946, Lynch's father worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, necessitating that his family move frequently while he was young. Lynch developed an early interest in art and began making short films while attending the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
In the 1970s, Lynch moved to Los Angeles with his wife and daughter and began studying filmmaking at the AFI Conservatory. It was at AFI where Lynch conceived his 1977 feature film debut, "Eraserhead," a discomfiting body-horror story shot in black-and-white about a man living in a dreamlike, dystopian wasteland and whose girlfriend gives birth to a deformed baby.
Shot for a reported $100,000 over several years of stops and starts, "Eraserhead" became a cult hit on the midnight movie circuit and grossed some $7 million during its initial release, making it a commercial success despite some savage initial reviews. More significantly, it announced Lynch's surrealist sensibilities to the filmgoing world. "Eraserhead's" lasting impact on cinema was affirmed nearly 30 years later, when the Library of Congress in 2004 added it to the National Film Registry.
Lynch's next feature film was the more conventional 1980 adaptation of the Tony-winning Broadway hit "The Elephant Man," produced by Mel Brooks and starring John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins. Based on the life of Joseph Merrick, a severely deformed man who lived in London in the late 19th century, the film was a critical and commercial success, garnering eight Academy Award nominations, including best director for Lynch.
He then directed the ambitious, big-budget 1984 adaptation of Frank Herbert's science fiction novel," Dune." Despite a budget of $40 million, the film made just shy of $31 million at the box office and received mostly mixed to negative reviews, although many critics praised its visual design. Lynch ultimately had his name removed from subsequent edits of the film.
"Dune" was also notable in that it starred Kyle MacLachlan in his feature film debut, who then appeared in Lynch's next feature, the 1986 neo-noir thriller "Blue Velvet," opposite Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper and Laura Dern. This film earned Lynch his second best director Oscar nomination, as well as numerous critical accolades, despite receiving the most mixed reviews of his filmography to date. In the years since, however, "Blue Velvet" came to be considered by many critics to be Lynch's best feature film effort.
Lynch followed up "Blue Velvet" with the 1990 romantic thriller "Wild at Heart," starring Dern, Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe, which won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
That year also saw Lynch turn his attention to television with the debut of the ABC series "Twin Peaks." Ostensibly a crime drama, MacLachlan starred as the eccentric, intellectual FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper, who travels to the fictional Washington state town of Twin Peaks to investigate the murder of former homecoming queen Laura Palmer. The series introduced Lynch's trademark sensibilities to a broader audience – albeit significantly softened for network television – combining mystery, paranormal elements and dark humor to initial commercial success and critical acclaim.
"Twin Peaks" earned 18 Primetime Emmy Award nominations over its two-season run, winning two, as well as winning three Golden Globes out of four nominations and a Peabody Award in 1991. It also spawned a 1992 theatrical feature film: "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me." Showtime revived the show in 2017 for a single season, titled "Twin Peaks: The Return," featuring much of the original cast and which Lynch directed.
More tellingly, "Twin Peaks'" both cleared the way for and influenced a generation of TV writers and producers, with its sensibilities on display in subsequent series including "Picket Fences," "Six Feet Under," "Gravity Falls," "Riverdale" and others.
Lynch's subsequent film projects included the 1997 neo-noir "Lost Highway," the 1999 character drama "The Straight Story" – starring veteran actor Richard Farnsworth in his final on-screen performance – the 2001 mystery-drama "Mulholland Drive," and the 2006 psychological thriller "Inland Empire."
Starring Naomi Watts in a breakout role, "Mulholland Drive" is considered one of Lynch's finest efforts, receiving widespread critical acclaim and earning him his third Oscar nomination for best director, as well as the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival.
In addition to his feature film directing resumé, Lynch was also a prolific maker of short films, with some 50 that were mostly released on DVD or digitally, as well a commercial director, with clients for the latter ranging from storied fashion houses Gucci, Calvin Klein, Dior, Christian Louboutin, Yves Saint Laurent and more, to Honda and the SyFy channel.
Lynch also directed music videos for artists including Nine Inch Nails, Moby and Chris Isaak.
A prolific painter, photographer and visual artist, Lynch exhibited his art around the world, with some of his works included in collections at New York's Museum of Modern Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.
Lynch also was a musician and served as a composer for several various film and commercial projects, and released three albums of his own music and two spoken-word albums.
Lynch made occasional appearances in movies and TV series. He played the recurring role of FBI Deputy Director Gordon Cole in "Twin Peaks," and most recently had a memorable cameo as the legendary director John Ford in Steven Spielberg's 2022 drama, "The Fabelmans."
An advocate for Transcendental Meditation as a spiritual practice, Lynch launched the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and Peace in 2005 to help finance scholarships for students interested in the practice, and to fund research on the technique and its uses.
Some collaborators and admirers praised Lynch's generosity and creativity as news of his death spread on Thursday.
"What I saw in him was an enigmatic and intuitive man with a creative ocean bursting forth inside of him," MacLachlan said in a statement on social media. "He was in touch with something the rest of us wish we could get to."
"#RIPDavidLynch, a gracious man and fearless artist who followed his heart & soul and proved that radical experimentation could yield unforgettable cinema," director Ron Howard said on X.
Lynch was married four times and had four children, including director Jennifer Lynch.
ABC News' Christopher Watson contributed to this report.
