Editing Ian Carmichael (section)

===Screen success, 1955–1962===
[[File:Ian Carmichael and Jill Adams in Private's Progress.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|alt=Carmichael and Adams dressed in army uniforms on the set of an office|Carmichael and [[Jill Adams]] in ''[[Private's Progress]]'' (1956)]]
In 1955 Carmichael was contacted by the filmmaker twins the [[Boulting brothers]]. They wanted him to appear in two film versions of novels—''Private's Progress'' by [[Alan Hackney]] and ''[[Brothers in Law (novel)|Brothers in Law]]'' by [[Henry Cecil Leon|Henry Cecil]]—with an [[Option (filmmaking)|option]] for five films in all;{{sfn|Fairclough|2011|p=77}}{{sfn|Carmichael|1979|pp=279–280}} the final contract was for a total of six films.{{sfn|Burton|2012|p=81}} The Boultings' first work with Carmichael was the 1956 film ''[[Private's Progress]]'', a satire on the [[British Army]].{{sfn|McFarlane|2014}}{{efn|Over the course of the late 1950s and early 1960s the Boultings made films that took "sharp, but generally good-tempered swipes at such social bastions" in Britain. These included ''Private's Progress'' (1956; the army), ''[[Brothers in Law (film)|Brothers in Law]]'' (1957; the legal profession), ''[[Lucky Jim (1957 film)|Lucky Jim]]'' (1957; academia), ''[[I'm All Right Jack]]'' (1959; trade unions and management), ''[[Carlton-Browne of the F.O.]]'' (1959; the [[Foreign Office]]) and ''[[Heavens Above!]]'' (1963; the [[Church of England]]).{{sfn|McFarlane|2014}}{{sfn|Harper|Porter|2003|p=108}} Carmichael appeared in all but ''Carlton Browne''.{{sfn|"Filmography: Carmichael, Ian". British Film Institute}}}} The film opened in February 1956 and starred Carmichael, [[Richard Attenborough]], [[Dennis Price]] and [[Terry-Thomas]].{{sfn|Fairclough|2011|p=79}} The film historian Alan Boulton observed "Reviews were decidedly mixed and the critical response did not match the popular enthusiasm for the film";{{sfn|Burton|2012|p=81}} it was either the second or third most popular film at the British box office that year.{{sfn|British Films Made Most Money: Box-Office Survey. ''The Manchester Guardian''}}{{sfn|Harper|Porter|2003|p=249}} Carmichael received praise for his role, however, including from ''[[The Manchester Guardian]]'', which thought he "fulfils his promise as a comedian";{{sfn|"New Films in London". ''The Manchester Guardian''}} the reviewer for ''The Times'' thought Carmichael acted "with an unfailing tact and sympathy—he even manages to make a drunken scene seem rich in comedy".{{sfn|"The Army as a Film Joke". ''The Times''}} The film introduced American audiences to Carmichael, and his screen presence in the US was warmly received by reviewers. The reviewer Margaret Hinxman, writing in ''[[Picturegoer]]'', considered that after ''Private's Progress'' Carmichael had become "one of Britain's choicest screen exports".{{sfn|Hinxman|1957|p=12}}

From June to September 1956 Carmichael was involved in the filming of ''[[Brothers in Law (film)|Brothers in Law]]'', which was directed by [[Roy Boulting]]; others in the cast included Attenborough and Terry-Thomas.{{sfn|Carmichael|1979|pp=285–286}} When the film was released in March 1957 Carmichael received positive reviews,{{sfn|Fairclough|2011|p=91}} including from [[Philip Oakes]], the reviewer from ''The Evening Standard'', who concluded that Carmichael "confirms his placing in my form book as our best light comedian".{{sfn|Oakes|1957|p=8}} The reviewer for ''The Manchester Guardian'' thought Carmichael was "irrepressibly funny in his well-bred, well-intentioned, bewildered ineptitude".{{sfn|"An Outstanding British Comedy". ''The Manchester Guardian''}}

[[File:Terry-Thomas, 1961.jpg|thumb|upright=1|alt=Terry-Thomas, resplendent in suit and tie, grins at the camera|[[Terry-Thomas]] (shown in 1961); he and Carmichael appeared together in six films, including ''[[Private's Progress]]'' (1956), ''[[Lucky Jim (1957 film)|Lucky Jim]]'' (1957), ''[[I'm All Right Jack]]'' (1959) and ''[[School for Scoundrels (1960 film)|School for Scoundrels]]'' (1960).]]
In September 1957 Carmichael appeared in a third Boulting brothers film, ''[[Lucky Jim (1957 film)|Lucky Jim]]'' in which he appeared alongside Terry-Thomas and [[Hugh Griffith]] in an adaptation of [[Lucky Jim|a 1954 novel]] by [[Kingsley Amis]].{{sfn|Whitehead|2014b}} Fairclough notes that while the film was not well received by the critics, Carmichael's performance received great praise.{{sfn|Fairclough|2011|p=96}} ''The Manchester Guardian'' considered that Carmichael, "although in many ways excellent, has fewer chances than in ''Brothers-in-Law'' to delight us with those studies in agonised embarrassment in which he excels",{{sfn|"'Lucky Jim' as a British Comedy". ''The Manchester Guardian''}} while ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' reviewer considered "[Carmichael's] Jim, complete with North-Country accent and the ability to pull comic faces, might so easily have been the author's creation brought to life off the page."{{sfn|"Satire Gone in 'Lucky Jim'". ''The Daily Telegraph''}}

Carmichael then appeared in a fourth film with the Boultings, ''[[Happy Is the Bride]]'', a lightweight [[comedy of manners]] released in March 1958 which also included [[Janette Scott]], [[Cecil Parker]], Terry-Thomas and [[Joyce Grenfell]].{{sfn|Fairclough|2011|p=98}} Carmichael spent much of the end of 1957 and most of 1958 on stage with ''[[The Tunnel of Love (play)|The Tunnel of Love]]''. The journalist R. B. Marriott described it as a "slightly crazy, wonderfully ridiculous comedy",{{sfn|Marriott|1957|p=8}} and it had a five-week tour around the UK which preceded a run at [[Her Majesty's Theatre]], London, between December 1957 and August 1958.{{sfn|Fairclough|2011|pp=107–108, 114}} During the run, in April 1958, Carmichael was interviewed for ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'' by [[Roy Plomley]] on the [[BBC Home Service]].{{sfn|"Desert Island Discs: Ian Carmichael (1958)". ''BBC Genome Project''}}{{efn|His selection was [[Gene Kelly]], "Les Girls"; [[Bing Crosby]], "[[Prisoner of Love (Russ Columbo song)|Prisoner of Love]]"; [[Fred Astaire]], "[[Funny Face (musical)|Let's Kiss and Make Up]]"; The London Palladium Orchestra, playing a selection from ''[[Lilac Domino]]''; [[Glenn Miller Orchestra]], "[[Moonlight Serenade]]"; [[Kay Thompson]], "[[How Deep Is the Ocean?]]"; Waltz from Act one of [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky]]'s ''[[Swan Lake]]''; [[Philharmonia Orchestra]], with [[Herbert von Karajan]] conducting; [[Frank Sinatra]], "[[I've Got the World on a String]]". His luxury items were writing materials and beer.{{sfn|"BBC Radio 4 – Desert Island Discs: Ian Carmichael (1958)". BBC}}}}

Carmichael once again appeared as Stanley Windrush, the character he portrayed in ''Private's Progress'', in his fifth film with the Boultings, ''[[I'm All Right Jack]]'', which was released in August 1959. Several other actors from ''Private's Progress'' also reprised their roles: Price (as Bertram Tracepurcel); Attenborough (as Sidney De Vere Cox) and Terry-Thomas (as Major Hitchcock). A new character was introduced in the film, [[Peter Sellers]] as the [[trade union]] [[shop steward]] Fred Kite.{{sfn|Whitehead|2014a}}{{sfn|Wells|2000|p=61}} The film was the highest-grossing at the British box office in 1960 and earned Sellers [[BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role|the award for Best British Actor]] at the [[13th British Academy Film Awards]].{{sfn|Sikov|2002|p=130}}{{sfn|"Boultings on top form: Satirical 'I'm All Right, Jack!'". ''The Manchester Guardian''}} Although Sellers received most of the plaudits for the film, Carmichael was given good reviews for his role, with ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'' saying he was "in excellent fooling" and "delicious both at work and at play".{{sfn|Dent|1959|p=50}}{{sfn|Fairclough|2011|pp=129–130}} In 1960 Carmichael appeared in ''[[School for Scoundrels (1960 film)|School for Scoundrels]]'', based on [[Stephen Potter]]'s "[[gamesmanship]]" series of books.{{sfn|Brooke|2014a}}{{efn|The books are ''Gamesmanship'' (1947), ''Lifemanship'' (1950), ''Oneupmanship'' (1952) and ''Supermanship'' (1958).{{sfn|Brooke|2014a}}}}  Appearing alongside him were Terry-Thomas, [[Alastair Sim]] and [[Janette Scott]]. The reviews for the film were not positive, but the actors were praised for their work in it.{{sfn|Fairclough|2011|p=142}}

The release of ''School for Scoundrels'' was Carmichael's tenth film in five years. Fairclough observes that during the late 1950s and early 1960s, Carmichael began to get a reputation among his colleagues as being difficult to work with. [[Eric Maschwitz]], the BBC's Head of Light Entertainment for Television, recorded in an internal memo that Carmichael had given "great difficulty" during negotiations, and concluded that "his head seems to have been a little turned by his success".{{sfn|Fairclough|2011|pp=102, 142}} Some actors had to point out to him that he was "doing a Carmichael" whenever he tried to improve his billing, or upstage his fellow actors, including [[Derek Nimmo]] in 1962, during the filming of ''[[The Amorous Prawn]]''.{{sfn|Fairclough|2011|p=103}} Despite the criticism, Carmichael described the period as "I think the happiest five or six years of my whole career".{{sfn|McFarlane|1997|p=115}}

In December 1961 Carmichael was appearing in the comedy mystery play ''[[The Gazebo (play)|The Gazebo]]'' every evening and filming ''[[Double Bunk]]'' during the day. The mental and physical toll on him was too much, and he collapsed in the middle of a performance. The show's producer, [[Harold Fielding]], instructed Carmichael to take at least two week's holiday to rest, and he paid for Carmichael and his wife to have a holiday in Switzerland. He returned to the show on 23 December, but he lost his voice during the Boxing Day show and could only complete Act 1. He returned to the show after a few days, but left permanently on 28 January 1962 on his doctor's orders.{{sfn|Carmichael|1979|pp=279–280}}{{sfn|Fairclough|2011|pp=313–316}}