David Lean David Lean Sir David Lean (25 March 190816 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor, responsible for large-scale epics such as "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957), "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), "Doctor Zhivago" (1965) and "A Passage to India" (1984). He also directed adaptations of Charles Dickens novels "Great Expectations" (1946) and "Oliver Twist" (1948), and the romantic drama "Brief Encounter" (1945). 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
The Heiress (1947 play) The Heiress (1947 play) The Heiress is a 1947 play by American playwrights Ruth and Augustus Goetz adapted from the 1880 Henry James novel "Washington Square". Two years later the play was adapted into the film "The Heiress" starring Olivia de Havilland. The play opened on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre on September 29, 1947 and closed on September 18, 1948 after 410 performances. Directed by Jed Harris the cast starred Wendy Hiller, Basil Rathbone, and Peter Cookson. The production then opened in London at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in 1949 starring Ralph Richardson and Peggy Ashcroft and ran for