Lynch’s family announced his death Thursday on Facebook. The director, an artist who channeled his talent in a number of mediums including film, television, music and art, was 78.
“It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch,” the post said. “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 post added: “It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.” It did not say where Lynch died.
In 2024, Lynch revealed that he had been diagnosed with emphysema, a condition that causes shortness of breath, “from smoking so long” during his life. He said in an interview with Sight and Sound that his health had limited his ability to direct.
“I would do it remotely if it comes to it,” he said. “I wouldn’t like that so much.”
Lynch revealed in 2024 that he had been diagnosed with emphysema after a lifetime of smoking, and would likely not be able to leave his house to direct any longer. His family announced his death in a Facebook post, writing, “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 “Twin Peaks” TV show and films such as “Blue Velvet,” “Lost Highway” and “Mulholland Drive” melded elements of horror, film noir, the whodunit and classical European surrealism. Lynch wove tales, not unlike those of his Spanish predecessor Luis Bunuel, which proceeded with their own impenetrable logic.
Nobody who saw Lynch’s works could mistake them for anyone else’s. Unlike other leading auteurs, he didn’t belong to a movement or fit easily into a genre; while his pictures echoed the mindset of a Luis Buñuel or a Salvador Dalí — critic Pauline Kael called him “the first populist surrealist” — and were influenced by such film noir landmarks as Billy Wilder’s Sunset Blvd., they were sui generis; his creations, in fact, appeared timeless, strangely disconnected from any particular era or place, which made them all the more startling and disturbing. (Hoolywood rep)
(Source: Variety, NME, Hollywood rep)
