the filmmaker celebrated for his uniquely dark and dreamlike vision in such movies as 鈥淏lue Velvet鈥� and 鈥淢ulholland Drive鈥� and the has died just days before his 79th birthday.
His family announced the death in a Facebook post on Thursday.
"There鈥檚 a big hole in the world now that he鈥檚 no longer with us. But, as he would say, 鈥楰eep your eye on the donut and not on the hole,鈥欌�� the family's post read. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.鈥�
The cause of death and location was not immediately available. Last summer, Lynch had revealed to Sight and Sound that he was diagnosed with emphysema and would not be leaving his home because of fears of contracting the coronavirus or 鈥渆ven a cold.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檝e gotten emphysema from smoking for so long and so I鈥檓 homebound whether I like it or not,鈥� Lynch said, adding he didn鈥檛 expect to make another film.
鈥淚 would try to do it remotely, if it comes to it,鈥� Lynch said. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 like that so much.鈥�
Lynch was a onetime painter who broke through in the 1970s with the surreal 鈥淓raserhead鈥� and rarely failed to startle and inspire audiences, peers and critics in the following decades. His notable releases ranged from the neo-noir 鈥淢ulholland Drive鈥� to the skewed gothic of 鈥淏lue Velvet鈥� to which won three Golden Globes, two Emmys and even a Grammy for its theme music. Pauline Kael, the film critic, called Lynch 鈥渢he first populist surrealist 鈥� a Frank Capra of dream logic.鈥�
鈥溾�楤lue Velvet,鈥� 鈥楳ulholland Drive鈥� and 鈥楨lephant Man鈥� defined him as a singular, visionary dreamer who directed films that felt handmade,鈥� director Steven Spielberg said in a statement. Spielberg noted that he had cast Lynch as director John Ford, one of his early influences, in his
鈥淚t was surreal and seemed like a scene out of one of David鈥檚 own movies,鈥� Spielberg said. 鈥淭he world is going to miss such an original and unique voice.鈥�
鈥淟ynchian鈥� became a style of its own, yet one that ultimately belonged only to him. Lynch鈥檚 films pulled disturbing surrealistic mysteries and unsettling noir nightmares out of ordinary life. In the opening scenes of 鈥淏lue Velvet,鈥� among suburban homes and picket fences, an investigator finds a severed ear lying in a manicured lawn.
Steven Soderbergh, who told The Associated Press on Thursday that he was a proud owner of two end tables crafted by Lynch (his numerous hobbies included furniture design), called 鈥淓lephant Man鈥� a perfect film.
鈥淗e鈥檚 one of those filmmakers who was influential but impossible to imitate. People would try but he had one kind of algorithm that worked for him and you attempted to recreate it at your peril," Soderbergh told the AP. 鈥淎s non-linear and illogical as they often seemed, they were clearly highly organized in his mind.鈥�
Lynch never won a competitive Academy Award. He received nominations for directing 鈥淭he Elephant Man,鈥� 鈥淏lue Velvet鈥� and 鈥淢ulholland Drive鈥� and, in 2019, was for lifetime achievement.
鈥淭o the Academy and everyone who helped me along the way, thanks,鈥� he said at the time, in characteristically off-beat remarks. 鈥淵ou have a very nice face. Good night.鈥�
His other credits included the crime story 鈥淲ild at Heart,鈥� winner of the Palme d鈥橭r at the the biographical drama 鈥淭he Elephant Man鈥� and the G-rated, aptly straightforward 鈥淭he Straight Story.鈥� Actors regularly appearing in his movies included Kyle McLachlan, Laura Dern, Naomi Watts and Richard Farnsworth.
Lynch was who moved around often with his family as a child and would long feel most at home away from the classroom, free to explore his fascination with the world. Lynch鈥檚 mother was a English teacher and his father a research scientist with the U.S. Agriculture Department. He was raised in the Pacific Northwest before the family settled in Virginia. Lynch鈥檚 childhood was by all accounts free of trauma. He praised his parents as 鈥渓oving鈥� and 鈥渇air鈥� in his memoir, though he also recalled formative memories that shaped his sensibility.
One day near his family鈥檚 Pacific Northwest home, Lynch recalled seeing a beautiful, naked woman emerge from the woods bloodied and weeping.
鈥淚 saw a lot of strange things happen in the woods,鈥� Lynch told Rolling Stone. 鈥淎nd it just seemed to me that people only told you 10% of what they knew and it was up to you to discover the other 90%.鈥�
He had an early gift for visual arts and a passion for travel and discovery. He dropped out of several colleges before enrolling in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, beginning of a decade-long apprenticeship as a maker of short movies. He was working as a printmaker in 1966 when he made his first film, a four-minute short named 鈥淪ix Men Getting Sick (Six Times).鈥� That and other worked landed Lynch a place at the then-nascent American Film Institute.
There he began working on what would become his 1977 feature debut, 鈥淓raserhead.鈥�
鈥淒avid鈥檚 always had a cheerful disposition and sunny personality, but he鈥檚 always been attracted to dark things,鈥� a childhood friend is quoted as saying in 鈥淩oom to Dream,鈥� a 2018 book by Lynch and Kristine McKenna. That鈥檚 one of the mysteries of David.鈥�
Aside from furniture making and painting, Lynch was a coffee maker, composer, sculptor and cartoonist. He exuded a Zen peacefulness that he attributed to Transcendental Meditation, which his David Lynch Foundation promoted. In the 2017 short film 鈥淲hat Did Jack Do?鈥� he played a detective interrogating a monkey.
Lynch was himself a singular presence, almost as beguiling and deadpan as his own films. For years, he posted videos of daily weather reports from Southern California. When asked for analysis of his films, Lynch typically demurred.
鈥淚 like things that leave some room to dream,鈥� he told the New York Times in 1995. 鈥淎 lot of mysteries are sewn up at the end, and that kills the dream.鈥�
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AP National Writer Hillel Italie contributed reporting.
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
