Editing Peter Cushing (section)

===Success in television and major films===
Cushing struggled greatly to find work over the next few years, and became so stressed that he felt he was suffering from an extended [[Mental breakdown|nervous breakdown]].<ref name="Cush92" /> Nevertheless, he continued to appear in several small roles in radio, theatre and film.<ref name="SWI56" /><ref name="Earnshaw4">Earnshaw, Tony (2001). ''An Actor, and a Rare One''. [[Lanham, Maryland|Lanham]], Maryland: [[Rowman & Littlefield|The Scarecrow Press, Inc.]] p. 4. {{ISBN|0810838745}}.</ref> Among them was the [[John Huston]] film ''[[Moulin Rouge (1952 film)|Moulin Rouge]]'' (1952) in which he played a racing spectator named Marcel de la Voisier appearing with [[José Ferrer]], who played the artist [[Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec]].<ref name="Monush" /> During this discouraging period for Cushing, his wife encouraged him to seek roles in television, which was beginning to develop in England.<ref name="SWI56" /> She suggested he should write to all the producers listed in the ''[[Radio Times]]'' magazine seeking work in the medium. The move proved to be a wise one, as Cushing was hired to complement the cast of a string of major theatre successes that were being adapted to [[live television]]. The first was J.B. Priestley's ''[[Eden End]]'', which was televised in December 1951. Over the next three years, he became one of the most active and favoured names in British television,<ref name="SWI56" /><ref name="Payne" /><ref name="Earnshaw4" /> and was considered a pioneer in British television drama.<ref name="Monush" /><ref name="Veg" />

He earned praise for playing the lead male role of [[Mr. Darcy]] in an early [[BBC Television]] serialisation of [[Jane Austen]]'s ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'' (1952).<ref>MacDonald, Andrew and MacDonald, Gina (2003). ''Jane Austen on Screen''. [[Cambridge]], England: [[Cambridge University Press]]. p. 166. {{ISBN|0521797284}}.</ref> Other successful television ventures during this time included ''Epitaph for a Spy'', ''The Noble Spaniard'', ''Beau Brummell'',<ref name="Earnshaw4" /> ''Portrait by Peko'',<ref name="Cush140">Cushing, p. 140</ref> and ''Anastasia'', the latter of which won Cushing the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' National Television Award for Best Actor of 1953–54.<ref name="Earnshaw4" /> His largest television success from this period was the leading role of [[Winston Smith (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|Winston Smith]] in ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four (British TV programme)|Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', (1954) an adaptation by [[Nigel Kneale]] of [[George Orwell]]'s [[Nineteen Eighty-Four|novel of the same name]] about a [[totalitarian]] regime. The production proved to be controversial, resulting in death threats for the director [[Rudolph Cartier]] and causing Cushing to be vilified for appearing in such "filth."<ref name="Earnshaw4" /> [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] even considered a motion immediately after the first screening to ban the play's live repeat.<ref name="Veg" /><ref name="Earnshaw4" /> Nevertheless, a second televised production was filmed and aired, and Cushing eventually drew both critical praise and acting awards, further cementing his reputation as one of Britain's biggest television stars.<ref name="SWI56" /> Cushing felt his first performance was much stronger than the second, but the second production is the only known surviving version.<ref>Cushing, p. 110</ref>

In the two years following ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', Cushing appeared in thirty-one television plays and two serials, and won Best Television Actor of the Year from the ''[[Evening Chronicle]]''. He also won best actor awards from the [[Guild of Television Producers and Directors|Guild of Television Producers]] [[Guild of Television Producers and Directors Awards 1955|in 1955]],<ref name="Meikle37">Meikle, p. 37</ref> and from the [[British Academy of Film and Television Arts]] in 1956.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001088/awards "Peter Cushing – Awards"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170917073409/http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001088/awards |date=17 September 2017}}. [[IMDb]]. Retrieved 14 February 2018.</ref> Among the plays he appeared in during this time were [[Terence Rattigan]]'s ''[[The Browning Version (play)|The Browning Version]]'', [[Josephine Tey|Gordon Daviot's]] ''[[Richard of Bordeaux (play)|Richard of Bordeaux]]'', and the production of [[Nigel Kneale]]'s ''The Creature'' (1955),<ref name="Earnshaw4" /> the latter of which Cushing starred in [[The Abominable Snowman (film)|film adaptation]] released in 1957.<ref name="Meikle46">Meikle, Denis (2008). ''A History of Horrors: The Rise and Fall of the House of Hammer''. [[Lanham, Maryland|Lanham]], Maryland: [[Rowman & Littlefield|The Scarecrow Press, Inc.]] p. 46. {{ISBN|0810863545}}.</ref> Despite this continued success in live television, Cushing found the medium too stressful and wished to return to film.<ref name="SWI56" /> Cinematic roles proved somewhat difficult to find, however, as film producers were often resentful of television stars for drawing audiences away from the cinema.<ref name="Wogan">''[[Wogan]]'' (24 February 1988). Cushing, Peter. [[White City, London|White City]], London: [[BBC One]].</ref>

Nevertheless, he continued to work in some film roles during this period, including the [[adventure film]] ''[[The Black Knight (film)|The Black Knight]]'' (1954) opposite [[Alan Ladd]].<ref name="Meikle37" /> For that film, he travelled to Spain and filmed scenes [[Filming location|on location]] in the castles of [[Manzanares el Real]] and [[El Escorial]].<ref>Cushing, p. 118</ref> He also starred in the film adaptation of the [[Graham Greene]] novel ''[[The End of the Affair]]'' (1955) as Henry Miles, an important civil servant and the [[cuckold]]ed husband of Sarah Miles, played by [[Deborah Kerr]].<ref name="Monush" /> Also around the same time, he appeared in ''[[Magic Fire]]'' (also 1955), an autobiographical film about the German composer [[Richard Wagner]]. Filmed on location in [[Munich]], Cushing played Otto Wesendonck, the husband of the poet [[Mathilde Wesendonck]], who in the film is portrayed as having an affair with Wagner.<ref name="Cush119">Cushing, p. 119</ref>