Editing David Niven (section)

====1946–1950: Postwar career====
Niven initially resumed his acting career in England, taking the lead in the classic, ''[[A Matter of Life and Death (film)|A Matter of Life and Death]]'' (1946), from the team of [[Powell and Pressburger]]. The film was critically acclaimed, popular in England, and selected as the first [[Royal Film Performance]]. Niven returned to Hollywood but soon encountered tragedy with the death of his wife after falling down a flight of stairs at a party, and it was around this time that his career began to suffer as well.  Goldwyn lent him to Universal to play [[Aaron Burr]] in ''[[Magnificent Doll]]'' (1946) opposite [[Ginger Rogers]], then lent him to Paramount for ''[[The Perfect Marriage]]'' (1947) with Loretta Young and loaned him out a third time for Enterprise Productions' ''[[The Other Love]]'' (1947) opposite [[Barbara Stanwyck]]. Finally he was cast in a top picture for Goldwyn when he joined [[Cary Grant]] and Loretta Young for ''[[The Bishop's Wife]]'' (1947).

Any prospects for career advancement were quickly dashed when Goldwyn lent him to [[Alexander Korda]] to return to the UK for the title role in ''[[Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948 film)|Bonnie Prince Charlie]]'' (1948), a notorious flop. Back in Hollywood, Niven was in Goldwyn's well-regarded ''[[Enchantment (1948 film)|Enchantment]]'' (1948) with [[Teresa Wright]]. At Warner Bros he was in a comedy ''[[A Kiss in the Dark (1949 film)|A Kiss in the Dark]]'' (1948) with [[Jane Wyman]], then he appeared opposite [[Shirley Temple]] in the comedy ''[[A Kiss for Corliss]]'' (1949). None of these films was successful at the box office.  Niven's career was markedly in decline.

He returned to Britain for the title role in ''[[The Elusive Pimpernel (1950 film)|The Elusive Pimpernel]]'' (1950) from Powell and Pressberger, which was to have been financed by Korda and Goldwyn. Goldwyn pulled out and the film did not appear in the US for three years. Niven had a long, complex relationship with Goldwyn, who gave him his start, but Niven's demands for more money and better roles led to a long estrangement.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51974399|title=David Niven's Own Story|newspaper=[[The Australian Women's Weekly]]|date=15 September 1971|access-date=7 July 2012|page=15|publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>