Michael Wilding

Michael Charles Gauntlet Wilding (23 July 1912 – 8 July 1979) was an English stage, television, and film actor.

He wanted to get into designing sets for films and approached a London film studio in 1933 looking for work.

They invited him to come to work as an extra.

Wilding appeared as an extra in British films such as Bitter Sweet (1933), Heads We Go (1933), and Channel Crossing (1933).

He caught the acting bug and decided to make it a career.

He reportedly appeared in an Austrian film called Pastorale.

He made his stage debut in The Ringer in 1934 for the Watford Repertory Company and made his London stage debut in Chase the Ace the following year.

He could be spotted in the films Late Extra (1935), When Knights Were Bold (1936), and Wedding Group (1936).

He was in two musicals on stage, Spread It Abroad and Home and Beauty.

In 1937–38 he toured Australia and New Zealand with Fay Compton's stage company.

The plays included Personal Appearance, Victoria Regina, Tonight at Eight Thirty and George and Margaret.

While in Australia he filmed a prologue for Personal Appearance.

Back in England he appeared in the first Gate Revue, then followed this with another revue, Let's Face It and a pantomime, Who's Taking Liberty.

He had bigger film parts in There Ain't No Justice (1939), Convoy (1940), and Tilly of Bloomsbury (1940).

He had a good role in Sailors Three (1940), and Sailors Don't Care (1940).

Wilding had a leading role in Spring Meeting (1941) but was back to support parts in The Farmer's Wife (1941).

His films grew more prestigious: Kipps (1941), Cottage to Let (1941), Ships with Wings (1941), The Big Blockade (1941), In Which We Serve (1942), Secret Mission (1942), and Undercover (1943).

He played in Quiet Weekend on stage for a year.

In 1943 he performed for the troops in Gibraltar with John Gielgud.

Wilding finally became a film name with Dear Octopus (1943).

He followed it with English Without Tears (1944).

What really made him a star was appearing opposite Anna Neagle in Piccadilly Incident (1946).

Director Herbert Wilcox had wanted Rex Harrison or John Mills and had only taken Wilding reluctantly.

However, once he saw the rushes he signed Wilding to a long-term contract.

Piccadilly Incident was the second most popular film at the British box office in 1946.

After co-starring with Sally Gray in Carnival (1946), Wilding was reunited with Neagle and Wilcox in The Courtneys of Curzon Street (1947), the biggest hit at the 1947 British box office and one of the most-seen British films of all time.

Alexander Korda cast him opposite Paulette Goddard in An Ideal Husband (1947), another hit, but it failed to recoup its enormous cost.

Wilding, Neagle and Wilcox reteamed for Spring in Park Lane (1948), another outstanding hit.

He is best known for a series of films he made with Anna Neagle; he also made two films with Alfred Hitchcock, Under Capricorn (1949) and Stage Fright (1950); and he guest starred on Hitchcock's TV show in 1963.

He was married four times, including to Elizabeth Taylor, with whom he had two sons.

Born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England, and educated at Christ's Hospital, Wilding left home at age 17 and trained as a commercial artist.

He went to Europe when he was 20 and supported himself in Europe by doing sketches.

It led to a sequel, Maytime in Mayfair (1949), which was also enormously popular.

Wilding was now one of the biggest stars in Britain—indeed he was voted as such by the readers of Kine Weekly.

Director Alfred Hitchcock then cast him in two consecutive films that he produced through his own film production company Transatlantic Pictures (distributed through Warner Brothers Pictures).

The first, Under Capricorn (released in 1949), in which he played opposite Ingrid Bergman and Joseph Cotten, was shot mostly in London but had final retakes and overdubs filmed in Hollywood.

It was one of Hitchcock's few flops.

His second film for Hitchcock was the more popular Stage Fright (released in 1950), also filmed in London, with Marlene Dietrich and Jane Wyman.

Wilcox used him in a film without Neagle, Into the Blue (1950) and the public response was considerably less enthusiastic than for the films they made together.

Thirteen years later, in 1963, Wilding starred in an Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode titled "Last Seen Wearing Blue Jeans".