David Lynch, known for his surreal and noir-style films like Blue Velvet and television series, Twin Peaks, has sadly passed away at the age of 78.
Known for directing surreal, noir-style films such as Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, alongside the television shows Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, David Lynch has passed away at the age of 78. Lynch previously revealed in 2024 that he was diagnosed with emphysema and told he wouldn’t be able to leave his house to direct any longer, but recently his family announced his death on Facebook, posting “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.’”
Lynch has written many films that were highly idiosyncratic in American cinema, as he was an art student making experimental short films during his youth and was successful with his first feature film, Eraserhead. Following the release of his first feature film, he produced many award-winning films such as Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, and Mulholland Drive, alongside his landmark TV show, Twin Peaks. He has received three Best Director Oscar nominations and was given an honorary Lifetime Achievement Oscar in 2019, even winning the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for the Wild at Heart in 1990.
To give a brief history of David Lynch’s legacy, he was born in Missoula, Montana in 1946 and attended an art college in the 1960s. As an art student at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, he created his first experimental short, Six Men Getting Sick, a one-minute film of six figures vomiting in a looping animation. Lynch eventually moved back to Los Angeles in 1971 and studied film-making at the AFI Conservatory, where he began filming his first feature, Eraserheard, while wrapping up in 1976. The black-and-white film was rejected from many film festivals, yet in the late 70s, Lynch found his footing when the film became a success on the late-night “Midnight movie” circuit, kick-starting his legacy.
Leaving behind a legacy that inspired many filmmakers and is known for directing many noir-style films, David Lynch will be missed by many fans of his films and his family. May he rest in peace and as he said, “Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.”
