Michael Wilding (actor)

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Michael Wilding
Image:Michael Wilding in Stage Fright trailer.jpg from the trailer for the film Stage Fright (1950).
Born	July 23 1912(1912-07-23) Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England
Died	July 8 1979 (aged 66) Chichester, West Sussex, England
Years active	1933 - 1973
Spouse(s)	Kay Young (1937-1951) Elizabeth Taylor (1952-1957) Susan Neill (1958-1962) Margaret Leighton (1964-1976)
Children	Michael Wilding, Jr. (b.1953) Christopher Edward Wilding (b.1955)

Michael Wilding (July 23, 1912 – July 8, 1979) was an English actor.

Born in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England, Wilding was a successful commercial artist when he joined the art department of a London movie studio in 1933. He soon embarked on an acting career.

He appeared in numerous British motion pictures, often opposite Anna Neagle, but had a less productive career in Hollywood. Some of his most memorable screen performances are in Sailors Three (1940), In Which We Serve (1942), Piccadilly Incident (1946), Spring in Park Lane (1948), Hitchcock's Stage Fright (1950) and The World of Suzie Wong (1960).

Wilding had four wives, Kay Young (married 1937, divorced 1951), actress Elizabeth Taylor (married 1952, divorced 1957), Susan Neill (married 1958, divorced 1962), and actress Margaret Leighton (married 1964 until her death in 1976).

He and Taylor had two sons, Michael Howard Wilding (born January 6, 1953) and Christopher Edward Wilding (born February 27, 1955).

In the 1960s, he was forced to cut back on his movie appearances due to illness. His last appearance was in an uncredited, non-speaking cameo in Lady Caroline Lamb (1972), which co-starred his last wife, Margaret Leighton.

Michael Wilding died at age 66 in Chichester, West Sussex, due to head injuries suffered from a fall down a flight of stairs during an epileptic seizure. His body was cremated and the ashes were scattered.

[edit] Filmography

Bitter Sweet (1933) ... Extra (uncredited)
Channel Crossing (1933) ... Passenger boarding ferry
Heads We Go (1933)
Late Extra (1935)
When Knights Were Bold (1936) ... Extra (uncredited)
Wedding Group (1936)
There Ain't No Justice (1939) ... Len Charteris
The Big Blockade (1940) ... Captain
Tilly of Bloomsbury (1940) ... Percy Welwyn
Convoy (1940) ... Dot
Sailors Three (1940) ... Johnny Wilding
Sailors Don't Care (1940) ... Dick
The Pink Fox (1940) ... Dickie Benson
The Farmer's Wife (1941) ... Richard Coaker
Spring Meeting (1941) ... Tony Fox-Collier
Kipps (1941) ... Ronnie Walshingham
Cottage to Let (1941) ... Alan Trently
Ships with Wings (1942) ... Lt. David Grant
In Which We Serve (1942) ... "Flags," Second Lieutenant
Secret Mission (1942) ... Pvt. Nobby Clark
1943 (1943) ... Constantine
Dear Octopus (1943) ... Nicholas Randolph
English Without Tears (1944) ... Tom Gilbey
Piccadilly Incident (1946) ... Capt. Alan Pearson
Carnival (1946) ... Maurice Avery
The Courtneys of Curzon Street (1947) ... Sir Edward Courtney
An Ideal Husband (1947) ... Viscount Arthur Goring
Spring in Park Lane (1948) ... Richard
Under Capricorn (1949) ... Hon. Charles Adare
Maytime in Mayfair (1949) ... Michael Gore-Brown
Stage Fright (1950) ... Det. Insp. Wilfred "Ordinary" Smith
Into the Blue (1950) ... Nicholas Foster
The Law and the Lady (1951) ... Nigel Duxbury/Lord Henry Minden
The Lady with a Lamp (1951) ... Sidney Herbert (Lord Herbert of Lea)
Derby Day (1952) ... David Scott
Trent's Last Case (1952) ... Philip Trent
Torch Song (1953) ... Tye Graham
The Egyptian (1954) ... Akhnaton (the Pharaoh)
The Glass Slipper (1955) ... Prince Charles
The Scarlet Coat (1955) ... Maj. John Andre (British Adjutant General)
Zarak (1956) ... Maj. Ingram
Danger Within (1959) ... Maj. Charles Marquand
The World of Suzie Wong (1960) ... Ben Marlowe
The Naked Edge (1961) ... Morris Brooke
The Best of Enemies (1962) ... Burke
A Girl Named Tamiko (1963) ... Nigel Costairs
The Sweet Ride (1968) ... Mr. Cartwright
Rose rosse per il fuehrer (1968) ... English General ... aka Red Roses for the Fuhrer (USA)
Waterloo (1970) ... Sir William Ponsonby
Lady Caroline Lamb (1972) ... Lord Holland