David Lynch, a renowned American filmmaker, musician, and actor, has sadly passed away at the age of 78.

The news was shared by his family through a Facebook post on Thursday.

“It is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of David Lynch, the man and the artist,” the post stated. “We ask for privacy during this time. The world feels incomplete without him. But, as he would often say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.'”

The family did not disclose the reason for his death. YSL News has reached out to Lynch’s representatives for more information.

Last year, Lynch disclosed that he had been diagnosed with emphysema in 2020, a lung condition mainly caused by smoking. Nevertheless, he assured his fans on social media in August that he remained “filled with happiness” and had no intention to retire. “I want you all to know that,” he stated.

Lynch was the creative force behind “Twin Peaks,” a cult-favorite TV series that introduced surreal film-like elements to the television landscape. His other notable works included films such as “Mulholland Drive” (2001), “The Straight Story” (1999), and “Lost Highway” (1997).

Born in Missoula, Montana, in 1946, Lynch grew up with a passion for painting and drawing before falling in love with filmmaking while studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. After creating a few short films, he made his feature film debut with “Eraserhead” in 1977, a black-and-white body horror film that tells the story of a father (Jack Nance) caring for his deformed baby.

His career soared with “The Elephant Man” in 1980, which starred Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, and Anne Bancroft, earning eight Oscar nominations, including best picture and best director. Although Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of “Dune” was met with criticism and failed commercially, he bounced back two years later with “Blue Velvet,” featuring Isabella Rossellini as a troubled lounge singer ensnared in a criminal web.

This film marked Lynch’s first collaboration with Laura Dern, who went on to star in several of his projects, including “Wild at Heart” (1990), “Inland Empire” (2006), and “Twin Peaks: The Return” (2017).

In 2021, Dern expressed her admiration for Lynch in an interview with Elle magazine, stating that he “is my family” and “my great inspiration in life.” She further elaborated in a 2017 interview with W Magazine, expressing her excitement over the roles he offered her: “I’m always surprised by what he asks me to play. In the beginning, I signed on because of David. He inspires that trust.”

Throughout his career, Lynch worked with many recurring collaborators, including Naomi Watts, Justin Theroux, Harry Dean Stanton, Laura Harring, and Kyle MacLachlan. In “Twin Peaks,” MacLachlan portrayed the quirky FBI agent Dale Cooper, who investigates the brutal murder of high school student Laura Palmer. The show’s eccentric characters and unresolved mysteries cultivated a dedicated fanbase after its debut on ABC in 1990.

“I still love them so much, and the world I love,” Lynch remarked to YSL News in 2014. “The next surprise was that people around the globe loved the world and the characters as well. The happiest sort of surprises came out of ‘Twin Peaks.'”

Lynch’s signature dark and dreamlike aesthetic has profoundly influenced cinema, inspiring numerous emerging filmmakers like Ari Aster, Coralie Fargeat, and David Lowery. He received four Academy Award nominations during his lifetime, the latest for best director for “Mulholland Drive” in 2002, a film frequently recognized as one of the finest of this century. It’s worth noting that despite being nominated multiple times, he never won a competitive Oscar, although he did receive an honorary award in 2019.

He also made several appearances in TV shows and films as an actor, with his latest role as the legendary Hollywood director John Ford in Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” in 2022.

Lynch was married four times and had a five-year relationship with Rossellini in the late 1980s. He leaves behind four children, including Jennifer Lynch, who is a well-known TV director (recognized for Netflix’s “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”).

In a November interview with People, Lynch shared that he relied on supplemental oxygen for any physical activity beyond walking across the room. He revealed that he started smoking at age 8 and had tried to quit numerous times over the years. Eventually, he quit smoking in 2022.

“In the back of every smoker’s mind is the knowledge that it’s unhealthy, so you’re literally playing with fire,” Lynch noted. “It can bite you. I took a chance, and I got bitten.”

Contributing: Brian Truitt