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Michael Charles Gauntlet Wilding (23 July 1912 – 8 July 1979) was an English stage, television, and film actor. 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.
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 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. Thirteen years later, in 1963, Wilding starred in an Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode titled "Last Seen Wearing Blue Jeans".
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. He put Anouk Aimée under personal contract and announced plans to make a movie together but none resulted.
So too was Derby Day (1952), the last Neagle–Wilding collaboration. Wilcox tried Wilding with a new star, Margaret Lockwood, in Trent's Last Case (1952), a minor hit. In 1952 British exhibitors voted him the fourth most popular star at the local box office.
In May 1952, Wilding signed a long-term contract with MGM. He turned down a role in MGM's Latin Lovers, and the studio put him under suspension.
In Hollywood, Wilding supported Joan Crawford in MGM's Torch Song (1953). 20th Century Fox borrowed him to play a pharaoh in its big-budget spectacular, The Egyptian (1954), which was a box-office disappointment.
At MGM, he was Prince Charming to Leslie Caron's Cinderella in The Glass Slipper (1955), and Major John André in The Scarlet Coat (1956).
He had some roles in Danger Within (1959), a POW movie; The World of Suzie Wong (1960); The Naked Edge (1961); The Best of Enemies (1961); and A Girl Named Tamiko (1962).
His last appearance in a feature was in a cameo in Lady Caroline Lamb (1972), which co-starred his last wife, Margaret Leighton. His last role was in the TV movie (1973).
He and Taylor, who was 20 years his junior, had two sons, Michael Howard (born 6 January 1953) and Christopher Edward (born 27 February 1955). In 1957, he had a short-lived romance with actress Marie McDonald, who was nicknamed The Body.
In the 1960s, he was forced to cut back on his film appearances because of illness related to his lifelong epilepsy.
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| Episode: The Carroll Formula |
| Episode: The Trial of Colonel Blood |
| Episode: The Volcano Seat (1) Episode: The Volcano Seat (2) |
| Episode: The Clean Kill |
| Episode: The Case of the Two Sisters |
| Episode: Verdict of Three Episode: Dark as the Night |
| Episode: A Night of Horns and Bells |
| Episode: Last Seen Wearing Blue Jeans |
| Episode: Who Killed Sweet Betsy? |
| Episode: The Lethal Eagle Affair |
| Episode: The Fatal Mistake |
| TV film, (final film role) |
|- !colspan="3" style="background:#C1D8FF;"| Husband of Elizabeth Taylor
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