David Lynch, American filmmaker, writer and artist, who earned Best Director Oscar nominations for ‘Blue Velvet’, ‘The Elephant Man’ and ‘Mulholland Drive’ and co-created the groundbreaking TV series ‘Twin Peaks’, Has died at the age of 78. , his family said on Thursday.

“It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of David Lynch, the man and artist,” a statement on Lynch’s Facebook page said. “There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he used to say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut, not the hole.'”

No cause of death was released. Lynch revealed in August 2024 he was diagnosed with emphysemaA lung disease caused by smoking for many years.

With his surprising, disturbing and enigmatic works filled with dream sequences and grotesque images, Lynch was considered a master of surrealism and one of the most innovative filmmakers of his generation.

He received an Honorary Academy Award in 2019 for his lifetime achievements.

The mysterious artist and devotee of Transcendental Meditation didn’t like to talk about his complex, perplexing films, which included ‘Wild at Heart,’ the Palme d’Or winner at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival, and the 1977 horror film ‘Eraserhead.’ And the mystery of 1997 was included. ‘The Lost Highway.’

He told The Guardian newspaper in a 2018 interview, “A film or a painting, each thing is its own kind of language and trying to say the same thing in words is not right. The words are not there.”

His filmmaking style inspired the term Lynchian, described by Vanity Fair magazine as strange, scary, and slow. Lynch infused the horrific and disturbing into the ordinary and mundane in his films, enhancing the effect with music.

Lynch said he was interested not only in the story, but also in the mood of the film, determined by how visual elements and sound work together.

The New York Times said in 1990, “His eye for absurd detail that throws a scene into shocking relief and his taste in risky, often strange material made him, perhaps, Hollywood’s most respected eccentric, a kind of psychopathic Norman Rockwell.” Has given.”

Following his death on Thursday, several filmmakers said Lynch had inspired them. Actor and director Ron Howard, writing on

counterculture icon

Lynch, a former Eagle Scout once described by producer Mel Brooks as “Jimmy Stewart from Mars,” grew up to become a counterculture icon, but his roots were firmly planted in small-town, perfect America.

David Keith Lynch was born on January 20, 1946 in Missoula, Montana, the eldest of three children. His father worked for the US Department of Agriculture and the family moved frequently. Lynch once described his childhood as “very beautiful, a kind of ideal world”.

But as an art student at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in the 1960s, he encountered America’s darker side while living with his wife and young daughter in a crime-ridden, crowded neighborhood of Philadelphia. He described the city as the biggest influence in his life.

This experience inspired ‘Eraserhead’, his disturbing, confusing debut film, which became a cult hit in midnight cinemas. After seeing the film, Brooks, producer of ‘The Elephant Man’, hired Lynch to direct it.

‘The Elephant Man’, about a severely disfigured man in Victorian London, was nominated for eight Academy Awards in 1981. Although it failed to win an Oscar, it brought Lynch into the mainstream. But his next film, the 1984 science fiction epic “Dune,” failed at the box office.

Two years later, Lynch was back on top with ‘Blue Velvet’, which was based on the mysterious underworld in a small town in North Carolina. Some critics considered it his masterpiece and the best film of the decade.

Dave Kehr of The Chicago Tribune wrote, “‘Blue Velvet’ represents something that has never been seen before and in all likelihood will never be seen again: a combination of Hollywood means and Hollywood skill.” It’s an underground film made at midnight.” 1986 review.

Lynch turned to the small screen in 1990 when he created the mystery crime series ‘Twin Peaks’ with Mark Frost for ABC. The Emmy-winning series became a cultural phenomenon and was revived in 2017.

‘Mulholland Drive,’ Lynch’s 2001 Hollywood mystery, began as a TV pilot but was picked up by networks and eventually made its way to the big screen. In a 2016 BBC poll of 177 critics from around the world, it was named the best film of the 21st century so far.

In his later years Lynch, a true Renaissance man, devoted himself to documentaries, short films, paintings, and creating a YouTube channel. He released albums, music videos, soundtracks, and books, including his 2018 memoir ‘Room to Dream’.

The acclaimed director was married four times and had four children.

He told Vulture.com in a 2018 interview, “I love what I do and I get to work on what I want to work on. I want everyone to have that opportunity “