Cult director David Lynch was born January 20, 1946, in Missoula, Mont., where his tumultuous early years served as inspiration for his first feature film, Eraserhead (1977) -- which revealed Lynch's experimental style to audiences and critics alike.

His first mainstream feature, The Elephant Man (1980), earned him a Best Director Oscar nomination. But that triumph was followed with the commercial failure of Dune (1984). Lynch saved his career -- and his reputation -- with Blue Velvet (1986) and Wild at Heart (1990), which won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival. He later turned his attention to the short-lived but highly regarded television series "Twin Peaks."

In 1999, Lynch released the heartwarming drama The Straight Story and also returned to the land of the strange with the failed television pilot "Mulholland Dr.," which he reedited as a feature film two years later.