David Lean

In the course of his career, David Lean created some of the most unforgettable images in cinema history: the terrifying opening graveyard sequence in Great Expectations , the poignant railway farewell in Brief Encounter , the shimmering desert of Lawrence of Arabia and the frozen expanses of revolutionary Russia in Dr Zhivago .

Film-maker and historian Kevin Brownlow spent many hours with Lean, who talked openly about a career which lasted over 50 years. Furthermore, Lean's family and friends - from the son from whom he was estranged, to the women who loved him - talk frankly about his complex personality: a man who was charming, self-deprecating, autocratic and ruthless, and yet surprisingly generous. Brownlow's definitive biography of Lean leaves the reader with an understanding of the man and an appreciation of his cinematic achievement.