(1912-1979)
Stage Fright | Trent's Last Case Elisabeth Taylor's Other Half (No. 2)
Trivia: was best mate of that other handsome geezer with limited acting ability, Stewart Granger. Popular star of 1940s British films, best known today as the second husband of Elizabeth Taylor. Wilding began his career as an artist, even working in film studios, but eventually shifted into acting. He was an extra in some early 1930s pictures, and worked as a stand-in for Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., in Catherine the Great (1934). Eventually he worked at his craft and appeared on the London stage. While never a great actor, Wilding was handsome and charming. Important early film roles included Ronnie Walshingham in Kipps (1941) and Flags in Noel Coward's In Which We Serve (1942). As the decade progressed, Wilding's roles increased in importance; he and Anna Neagle united to star in a series of very popular films, including Piccadilly Incident (1946), The Courtneys of Curzon Street (1947), Spring in Park Lane (1948), The Lady With a Lamp (1951), and Maytime in Mayfair (1952). He made two films for Hitchcock: Under Capricorn (1949, as an aristocrat) and Stage Fright (1950, playing a detective). His most important American role was in Torch Song (1953), as a blind pianist who falls for Joan Crawford. Wilding was second-billed in The Glass Slipper (1955), a Cinderella redo, playing the prince, but mostly had co-starring roles from then on: The Egyptian (1954), The Scarlet Coat (1955), The World of Suzie Wong (1960), The Naked Edge (1961), and A Girl Named Tamiko (1962). |
His fourth wife was actress Margaret Leighton; he is the father of sometime actor Michael Wilding, Jr., his son by Elizabeth Taylor. His autobiography, Apple Sauce/The Wilding Way, was published posthumously in 1982.