I remember first encountering David Lynch’s “Eraserhead” (1977) at the midnight movies as a teenager in the early ‘80s and thinking WTF? And this was before WTF was even a thing. As an acronym, I mean. Being a teenager, I was delighted by the film’s surreal, anxious vibe, of course. Wouldn’t you know it, its sensibility was shaped by the young director’s experiences living in Philadelphia while he attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Had I only taken it as the warning it should have been, as I myself wound up living in that hell hole for 32 years!

[Note to self: Save that paragraph for the opening of my autobiography.]

This corn-fed Boy Scout from Missoula, Montana, blossomed into one the most unique and influential voices in American cinema. Lynch came to Philadelphia as an aspiring visual artist; he left with a lifetime supply of nightmare imagery, uneasy energy, and offbeat humor. In fact, on at least one occasion, he described the city as a virtual portal to hell.

“It wasn’t a normal city…,” Lynch recalled. “The fear, insanity, corruption, filth, despair, violence in the air was so beautiful to me.”

[Well, he had me until the beautiful part.]

For the movies, Lynch went on to direct “Blue Velvet” (1986), “Wild at Heart” (1990), “Lost Highway” (1997), and “Mulholland Drive” (2001), with a special shout-out to “The Straight Story” (1999), perhaps his most peculiar project, in that it was made for Disney and there is nothing in it to frighten the horses. In fact, it’s a rather touching film. For television, he created the cult classic “Twin Peaks” (1990-91).

He never lost his “aw shucks” demeanor. Mel Brooks, who produced Lynch’s “The Elephant Man” (1980), described him as Jimmy Stewart from Mars. At one point, George Lucas offered him the opportunity to direct “Return of the Jedi.” If you saw Lynch’s “Dune” (1984), I think you have a pretty good idea how that would have gone.

He was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Director and received an honorary Oscar in 2019. He had such a distinctive style, it could only be described as… Lynchian.

Lynch had an amusing cameo as crusty director John Ford in Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” (2022). More recently, he struggled with emphysema after years as a smoker.

At the time of his death, he was 78 years-old.

“I’ve said many, many, many unkind things about Philadelphia, and I meant every one.”

Me too, David. R.I.P.