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
Rupert Hart-Davis 1983; "More Letters of Oscar Wilde" (Murray) 1985; "Siegfried Sassoon: Letters to Max Beerbohm" (Faber) 1986; "Letters of Max Beerbohm" (Murray) 1986. Hart-Davis was a great-great-great-grandson of William IV. William had several illegitimate children with his mistress, Mrs. Jordan. Their youngest daughter, Lady Elizabeth Fitzclarence, later Countess of Erroll, had daughters including Lady Agnes Hay. Lady Agnes married James Duff, 5th Earl Fife and among their children was Lady Agnes Duff, who married Sir Alfred Cooper. Their children included Sybil Cooper, mother of Rupert Hart-Davis. While still an actor, Hart-Davis met the young Peggy Ashcroft whom he married in 1929.