Kyle MacLachlan led the celebrities paying emotional tributes to David Lynch following his death aged 78.

The four-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker’s family announced the devastating news via social media on Thursday.

Famous for directing his iconic TV series Twin Peaks and the film Blue Velvet, Lynch had recently been battling ill health and was homebound due to emphysema.

MacLachlan, 65, credited ‘visionary’ filmmaker Lynch for ‘my entire career’ after starring in the director’s iconic Blue Velvet in 1986 and Twin Peaks debuting in 1990.

Sharing an array of snaps with Lynch over the years, MacLachlan wrote: ‘Forty-two years ago, for reasons beyond my comprehension, David Lynch plucked me out of obscurity to star in his first and last big budget movie. 

‘He clearly saw something in me that even I didn’t recognize. I owe my entire career, and life really, to his vision.

Kyle MacLachlan led the celebrities paying emotional tributes to David Lynch following his death aged 78  – pictured together in 2017

MacLachlan, 65, credited ‘visionary’ filmmaker Lynch for ‘my entire career’ after starring in the director’s iconic Blue Velvet in 1986 and Twin Peaks debuting in 1990

‘What I saw in him was an enigmatic and intuitive man with a creative ocean bursting forth inside of him. He was in touch with something the rest of us wish we could get to.

‘Our friendship blossomed on Blue Velvet and then Twin Peaks and I always found him to be the most authentically alive person I’d ever met.

‘David was in tune with the universe and his own imagination on a level that seemed to be the best version of human. He was not interested in answers because he understood that questions are the drive that make us who we are. They are our breath.

‘While the world has lost a remarkable artist, I’ve lost a dear friend who imagined a future for me and allowed me to travel in worlds I could never have conceived on my own.

‘I can see him now, standing up to greet me in his backyard, with a warm smile and big hug and that Great Plains honk of a voice. We’d talk coffee, the joy of the unexpected, the beauty of the world, and laugh.

‘His love for me and mine for him came out of the cosmic fate of two people who saw the best things about themselves in each other.

‘I will miss him more than the limits of my language can tell and my heart can bear. My world is that much fuller because I knew him and that much emptier now that he’s gone.

‘David, I remain forever changed, and forever your Kale. Thank you for everything.’

Sharing an array of snaps with Lynch over the years, MacLachlan wrote: ‘Forty-two years ago, for reasons beyond my comprehension, David Lynch plucked me out of obscurity to star in his first and last big budget movie

MacLachlan made his big screen debut in Lynch’s 1984 film Dune as Paul Atreides. He landed the role after several screen tests and hitting it off with Lynch due to their shared Pacific Northwest backgrounds

Although Dune was a flop and MacLachlan struggled to find work, Lynch continued to believe in him and cast him as Jeffrey Beaumont in 1986 thriller Blue Velvet, which was a success – pictured with Isabella Rossellini

He went on to play Special Agent Dale Cooper in the acclaimed Twin Peaks, reprising that role for Lynch’s 1992 prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and the third season in 2017 – pictured with Sherilynn Fenn in the show

MacLachlan made his big screen debut in Lynch’s 1984 film Dune as Paul Atreides. He landed the role after several screen tests and hitting it off with Lynch due to their shared Pacific Northwest backgrounds.

Read More David Lynch wished for ‘everyone to be free of disease’ in his final public appearance

Although Dune was a flop and MacLachlan struggled to find work, Lynch continued to believe in him and cast him as Jeffrey Beaumont in thriller Blue Velvet, which was a success.  

He went on to play Special Agent Dale Cooper in the acclaimed Twin Peaks, reprising that role for Lynch’s 1992 prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and the third season in 2017.

Lynch said in a GQ story about MacLachlan: ‘Kyle plays innocents who are interested in the mysteries of life. He’s the person you trust enough to go into a strange world with.

In a 2012 interview, MacLachlan said: ‘David Lynch plucked me from obscurity. He cast me as the lead in Dune and Blue Velvet, and people have seen me as this boy-next-door-cooking-up-something-weird-in-the-basement ever since.’

Ron Howard and James Gunn paid tribute to the visionary director 

Happy Days icon and director Ron Howard wrote: ‘#RIPDavidLynch, a gracious man and fearless artist who followed his heart & soul and proved that radical experimentation could yield unforgettable cinema.’

DC Studios boss James Gunn penned: ‘RIP David Lynch. You inspired so many of us.’

Mulholland Drive actress Lee Grant reminisced on her time on the acclaimed 2001 film, writing: ‘In the early 90s the production manager of a film I was working on built part of our shooting schedule around the broadcast of a TV show the crew refused to miss. The show was Twin Peaks. I became fascinated by David Lynch’s dreamscapes along with everyone else on the film. 

‘Years later, when offered the chance to work with him for a day, I jumped at the opportunity to see how a mind like that directed. It was a day on Mulholland Drive. He was, in actuality, a one of a kind artist.’

Patton Oswalt, who has previously cited Lynch’s 1977 film Eraserhead as one of his defining movies, wrote: ‘David Lynch, RIP. At least that’s what the horse wearing a fez just told me* in a dream. (*Backwards and in Swedish).’

Director Jason Zada wrote: ‘David Lynch was such a huge inspiration for me when I was growing up. I remember seeing Eraserhead on VHS and watching it over and over. 

Mulholland Drive actress Lee Grant reminisced on her time on the acclaimed 2001 film, writing: ‘I became fascinated by David Lynch’s dreamscapes along with everyone else on the film.’

‘His films, his voice, his TV show Twin Peaks shaped me when I was starting out. He was a fearless director, a visionary, and an icon. Rest in weird peace, Mr. Lynch.’

Spring Breakers director Harmony Korine remembered Lynch to IndieWire, saying, ‘David Lynch was one of our great artists, a Mount Rushmore-level director, truly a GOAT. He changed a lot of people’s lives. There will never be another one like him, because he made films at a point in history where nothing like that had ever been experienced before. 

‘We live in a time where everything has been seen. Lynch invented a new language. He was a once in a generation talent who absorbed the embers of America’s wildness. 

‘He embraced his own inner logic and filtered it through a subconscious magic. He created worlds and unmatched vibrations. He hit on things that were inexplicable and sacred and beyond articulation. He is a treasure. His work will live forever.’

Famous for directing his iconic TV series Twin Peaks and the film Blue Velvet, Lynch had recently been battling ill health and was homebound due to emphysema

 Lynch is survived by his wife Emily Stofle, and three children Jennifer Lynch, Austin Jack Lynch, and Riley Lynch.

In an interview with Sight & Sound in August, Lynch said that he got the disease ‘for smoking so long.’

Lynch said: ‘I’m homebound whether I like it or not. I can’t go out. And I can only walk a short distance before I’m out of oxygen.’

The director of Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks got real as he said his love of cigarettes put him in this position.

Lynch said: ‘Smoking was something that I absolutely loved, but in the end, it bit me.

‘It was part of the art life for me: the tobacco and the smell of it, and lighting things and smoking and going back and sitting back and having a smoke and looking at your work, or thinking about things.

‘Nothing like it in this world is so beautiful. Meanwhile, it’s killing me. So I had to quit.’

Though his disease has prevented him from working on projects in person, he is not completely ruling out the possibility of directing in the future.

He said: ‘I like to be amongst the things and get ideas there. But I would try to do it remotely, if it comes to it.’

Lynch was referencing his animated project – called Snootworld – which was pitched and ultimately pᴀssed on by Netflix. 

Famous for directing his iconic TV series and the film Blue Velvet, Lynch had recently been battling ill health and was homebound due to emphysema (pictured in 1990)

In November, he told People that he required supplemental oxygen for most activities and could ‘hardly walk across a room.’ 

‘It’s like you’re walking around with a plastic bag around your head,’ he said of his battle with emphysema. 

Despite not having any regrets, Lynch hopes his devastating health update will encourage other smokers to quit.

He also told the outlet: ‘Think about it. You can quit these things that are going to end up killing you.’

Lynch admitted there had been a ‘big price to pay’ for his lifelong habit but said he didn’t regret it.

By the time he gave up cigarettes the father-of-four could ‘hardly move without gasping for air.’

‘Quitting was my only choice,’ he said. 

In an interview with Sight & Sound in August, Lynch said that he got the disease ‘for smoking so long’ (seen in 1984)

Some of Lynch’s other signature projects included Eraserhead (1977), The Elephant Man (1980), Blue Velvet (1986), and Mulholland Drive (seen above in 2001), and Inland Empire (2006)

His most recent major project before his health issues was the revival of his series Twin Peaks for Showtime in 2017.

The original series had ran from 1990 to 1991 as it followed the investigation into the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer (played by Sheryl Lee) as it took place in the fictional town of Twin Peaks, Washington.  

When it first aired in the early 1990s the series had developed a cult following after its run on ABC which later resulted in the 1992 prequel feature film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk.

Previously, Lynch revealed he had emphysema after ‘many years of smoking’ on X

Over two decades Lynch’s signature franchise made a comeback with Twin Peaks: The Return.

Kyle MacLachlan, Sherilyn Fenn, Mädchen Amick, Lee and David Duchovny – who starred in the original – returned for the revival.

Other stars were also added into the mix including Laura Dern, Amanda Seyfried, Jessica Szohr, Michael Cera, Richard Chamberlain, and Trent Reznor.

Lynch’s other signature projects included Eraserhead (1977), The Elephant Man (1980), Blue Velvet (1986), and Mulholland Drive (2001), and Inland Empire (2006).