Researching David Lean

Originally a film editor in the early 1930s, Lean made his directorial debut with 1942's In Which We Serve, which was the first of four collaborations with Noël Coward. Beginning with Summertime in 1955, Lean began to make internationally co-produced films financed by the big Hollywood studios; in 1970, however, the critical failure of his film Ryan's Daughter led him to take a fourteen-year break from filmmaking, during which he planned a number of film projects which never came to fruition. In 1984 he had a career revival with A Passage to India, adapted from E. M. Forster's novel; it was an instant hit with critics but proved to be the last film Lean would direct.

Lean's affinity for pictorialism and inventive editing techniques has led him to be lauded by directors such as Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, and Ridley Scott. Lean was voted 9th greatest film director of all time in the British Film Institute Sight & Sound "Directors' Top Directors" poll in 2002. Nominated seven times for the Academy Award for Best Director, which he won twice for The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia, he has seven films in the British Film Institute's Top 100 British Films (with three of them being in the top five) and was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1990.

He competed for Australia at the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia in the 4 × 400 metre relay where he won the Silver medal with his team mates Graham Gipson, Leon Gregory and Kevan Gosper. He also regularly competed in the 440 yard hurdles, winning gold at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, silver at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, fifth at the Melbourne Olympic games and winning the Australian national championship in 1954. His gold medal at the 1954 Vancouver Games was only his eighth race over the distance and the first ever international victory by a Tasmanian athlete.

Lean attended Launceston Grammar School where he mainly raced over 100 yards and later attended Michigan State University where he also competed in 440 and 880 yard races.

Lean was born in Melbourne, and educated at Melbourne Grammar School. He was the managing director of Stadiums Limited, his family's business, prior to entering politics. He was a councillor of the City of Chelsea from 1990 to 1994, and served as mayor in 1994.

Lean was elected to the Legislative Assembly at the 1996 state election, defeating Labor MP and former Kirner government minister Mal Sandon. Lean's victory in the formerly safe Labor seat fell against the tide of the 1996 election, the only seat gained by the Liberal government at an election at which they had a net loss of three seats to the Labor opposition. Lean was defeated by Labor candidate Jenny Lindell amidst the Liberal loss at the 1999 election.