His family announced the death in a Facebook post on Thursday. The cause of death and location was not immediately available
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — David Lynch, the filmmaker celebrated for his uniquely dark and dreamlike vision in such movies as “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive” and the TV series “Twin Peaks,” has died just days before his 79th birthday.
His family announced the death in a Facebook post on Thursday.
“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 family’s post read. “It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.”
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 “even a cold.”
“I’ve gotten emphysema from smoking for so long and so I’m homebound whether I like it or not,” Lynch said, adding he didn’t expect to make another film.
“I would try to do it remotely, if it comes to it,” Lynch said. “I wouldn’t like that so much.”
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Director David Lynch stands outdoors in front of Packard vehicle in Los Angeles in 1986. (Photo by Bonnie Schiffman/Getty Images)
Director David Lynch gives his thumb up after receiving a lifetime achievement award at the 12th Rome Film Fest in Rome, Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis) (Domenico Stinellis/The Associated Press)
American director David Lynch (R) in London, with Sting (L) and Francesca Annis (M), actors from the 1984 film Dune which David Lynch produced. 7th March 1984. (Photo by william karel/Sygma via Getty Images) (william karel/william karel)
From left to right, actor Michael Ontkean, director David Lynch and writer-producer Mark Frost, the star and co-creators of cult television show 'Twin Peaks', circa 1990. (Photo by Bob Grant/Fotos International/Getty Images) (Bob Grant/Getty Images)
David Lynch and Isabella Rosselini pose with actors from 'Wild at Heart' -- Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe, Diane Ladd, and Laura Dern -- at the 43rd Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 1990. (Photo by James Andanson/Sygma via Getty Images) (James Andanson/James Andanson)
David Lynch on the set of his film "Straight Story" in Clermont, Iowa, October 1998. (Photo by William Campbell/Sygma via Getty Images) (William Campbell/William Campbell)
David Lynch joins Twin Peaks cast members Ray Wise, Grace Zabriskie, Sheryl Lee and Russ Tamblyn at the Bigfoot Lodge for the after party celebrating the forthcoming Blu-ray Disc release of Twin Peaks: The Entire Mystery on Wednesday, July 16, 2014, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Casey Rodgers/Invision for CBS HE and Paramount/AP Images) (Casey Rodgers/The Associated Press)
Actor Dean Stockwell, actress Francesca Annis and David Lynch on the set of "Dune". (Photo by Nancy Moran/Sygma via Getty Images) (Nancy Moran/Nancy Moran)
David Lynch signs autographs as he walks red carpet during the 12th Rome Film Fest at Auditorium Parco Della Musica on Nov. 4, 2017 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Ernesto S. Ruscio/Getty Images) (Ernesto S. Ruscio/Getty Images)
'Mulholland Drive' stars Naomi Watts and Laura Elena Harring with David Lynch in 2001. (Photo by Toni Anne Barson/WireImage) (Toni Anne Barson Archive/WireImage)
Close-up of movie director David Lynch, looking through Panavision Panaflex movie camera as he directs filming of 'Wild at Heart.' (Photo by Acey Harper/Getty Images) (Acey Harper/Getty Images)
Director David Lynch poses for a portrait session in his office in Los Angeles, California in October 1984. (Photo by Ann Summa/Getty Images) (Ann Summa/Getty Images)
Director David Lynch and Isabella Rossellini attend ShoWest Convention on February 24, 1988 at Bally's Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images) (Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty)
'Inland Empire' cast members Jeremy Irons, Laura Dern and Justin Theroux with David Lynch at the 63rd Venice Film Festival in 2006. (Photo by J. Vespa/WireImage) (J. Vespa/WireImage)
Director David Lynch smokes a cigarette as he attends the 'Twin Peaks' screening during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 25, 2017 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Matthias Nareyek/Getty Images) (Matthias Nareyek/Getty Images)
Actress Laura Dern, director David Lynch, and actor Mark Ruffalo pose together after Dern received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, Monday, Nov. 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles) (Matt Sayles/The Associated Press)
Naomi Watts speaks with David Lynch prior to accepting her award for her Breakthrough performance in Lynch's 'Mulholland Drive' during Movieline's first annual Breakthrough of the Year awards at the St. Regis Hotel in Los Angeles Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2001. (Photo by M. Caulfield/WireImage) (Michael Caulfield Archive/WireImage)
Laura Dern, David Lynch and Justin Theroux during AFI Fest 2006 Presented by Audi Presents 'Inland Empire' at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, Calif. (Photo by Matthew Simmons/WireImage) (Matthew Simmons/WireImage)
Dame Elizabeth Taylor, David Lynch, Sharon Stone and Sir Elton John at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002 during an amfAR's Cinema Against AIDS Gala sponsored by Motorola and co-sponsored by De Beers. (Photo by J. Vespa/WireImage) (J. Vespa/WireImage)
Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek and David Lynch attend the 52th Cannes Film Festival for Lynch's film 'The Straight Story' in May 1999 in Cannes, France. (Photo by FocKan/WireImage) (Foc Kan/WireImage)
David Lynch and Kyle MacLachlan attend the premiere of Showtime's 'Twin Peaks' at The Theatre at Ace Hotel on May 19, 2017 in Los Angeles, Calif. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images) (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
Kyle MacLachlan, Laura Dern, Isabella Rossellini, and David Lynch speak onstage during the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences' 11th Annual Governors Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center on October 27, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
David Lynch, left, signs autographs after he was awarded the Title Doctor Honoris Cause in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, Saturday, Nov. 10, 2007. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova) (VALENTINA PETROVA/The Associated Press)
Director David Lynch shows the Golden Lion lifetime achievement award received at the 63rd edition of the Venice film festival in Venice, Italy, Wednesday Sept. 6, 2006.(AP Photo/Luca Bruno) (LUCA BRUNO/AP)
David Lynch speaks at the David Lynch Foundation Music Celebration at the Theatre at Ace Hotel on Wednesday, April 1, 2015, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) (Chris Pizzello/The Associated Press)
U.S. film director David Lynch poses next to one of eleven windows created as part of his Machines, Abstractions and Women exhibit at the Galerie Lafayette department store in Paris, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon) (JACQUES BRINON/The Associated Press)
David Lynch poses in front of his painting "Wajunga Red Dog 2005", at the Fondation Cartier for modern art in Paris, Thursday, March 1, 2007. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) (MICHEL EULER/AP)
Director David Lynch speaks, left, as actress Sissy Spacek reacts while receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles on Monday, Aug. 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg) (Dan Steinberg/The Associated Press)
Actor Jim Carrey, left, and director David Lynch appear on stage during the David Lynch Foundation Honors Ringo Star "A Lifetime of Peace & Love" event held at the El Rey Theatre on Monday, Jan. 20, 2014, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Paul A. Hebert/Invision/AP) (Paul A. Hebert/The Associated Press)
Producer Sabrina S. Sutherland, second left, Emily Stofle, director David Lynch actor Kyle MacLachlan, and Desiree Gruber, left, pose for photographers upon arrival at the screening of the TV show Twin Peaks at the 70th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Thursday, May 25, 2017(AP Photo/Alastair Grant) (Alastair Grant/The Associated Press)
David Lynch views his art during a press preview of David Lynch: The Unified Field, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2014, at his former school The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (Matt Rourke/The Associated Press)
Lynch was a onetime painter who broke through in the 1970s with the surreal “Eraserhead” and rarely failed to startle and inspire audiences, peers and critics in the following decades. His notable releases ranged from the neo-noir “Mulholland Drive” to the skewed gothic of “Blue Velvet” to the eclectic and eccentric “Twin Peaks,” which won three Golden Globes, two Emmys and even a Grammy for its theme music. Pauline Kael, the film critic, called Lynch “the first populist surrealist — a Frank Capra of dream logic.”
“‘Blue Velvet,’ ‘Mulholland Drive’ and ‘Elephant Man’ defined him as a singular, visionary dreamer who directed films that felt handmade,” director Steven Spielberg said in a statement. Spielberg noted that he had cast Lynch as director John Ford in his 2022 film “The Fabelmans.”
“Here was one of my heroes (Ford) — David Lynch playing one of my heroes. It was surreal and seemed like a scene out of one of David’s own movies,” Spielberg said. “The world is going to miss such an original and unique voice.”
“Lynchian” became a style of its own, yet one that ultimately belonged only to him. Lynch’s films pulled disturbing surrealistic mysteries and unsettling noir nightmares out of ordinary life. In the opening scenes of “Blue Velvet,” 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 “Elephant Man” a perfect film.
“He’s 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. “As non-linear and illogical as they often seemed, they were clearly highly organized in his mind.”
Lynch never won a competitive Academy Award. He received nominations for directing “The Elephant Man,” “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive” and, in 2019, was presented an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement.
“To the Academy and everyone who helped me along the way, thanks,” he said at the time, in characteristically off-beat remarks. “You have a very nice face. Good night.”
His other credits included the crime story “Wild at Heart,” winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival; the biographical drama “The Elephant Man” and the G-rated, aptly straightforward “The Straight Story.” Actors regularly appearing in his movies included Kyle McLachlan, Laura Dern, Naomi Watts and Richard Farnsworth.
Lynch was a Missoula, Montana, native 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’s 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’s childhood was by all accounts free of trauma. He praised his parents as “loving” and “fair” in his memoir, though he also recalled formative memories that shaped his sensibility.
One day near his family’s Pacific Northwest home, Lynch recalled seeing a beautiful, naked woman emerge from the woods bloodied and weeping.
“I saw a lot of strange things happen in the woods,” Lynch told Rolling Stone. “And 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%.”
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 “Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times).” 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, “Eraserhead.”
“David’s always had a cheerful disposition and sunny personality, but he’s always been attracted to dark things,” a childhood friend is quoted as saying in “Room to Dream,” a 2018 book by Lynch and Kristine McKenna. That’s one of the mysteries of David.”
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 “What Did Jack Do?” 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.
“I like things that leave some room to dream,” he told the New York Times in 1995. “A lot of mysteries are sewn up at the end, and that kills the dream.”
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AP National Writer Hillel Italie contributed reporting.