Biography for
Michael Wilding More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

23 July 1912, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England, UK

Date of Death

8 July 1979, London, England, UK (aftermath of falling)

Birth Name

Michael Charles Gauntlet Wilding

Mini Biography

An urbane leading man of the British screen who burned at a lower magnitude of star-power than did his contemporary James Mason, Michael Wilding achieved cinematic immortality of sorts by becoming the second of the 20-years-younger Elizabeth Taylor's seven or eight husbands. Like Grover Cleveland in the annals of the US Presidency, the nearest equivalent to the sheer power of celebrity that accrues to top movie and pop stars, some count Richard Burton once while others deem him husbands #5 and #6.

Born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England on July 23, 1912, Wilding became a commercial artist after leaving school. He gained employment in the art department of a film studio in London in 1933, and he was soon approached by producers to become a movie star-in-training due to his dashing good looks. After debuting at age 21 in Bitter Sweet (1933), Wilding worked steadily in British pictures for nearly three decades. Though never a star of the first rank, he had leading roles in numerous films, including a part in the classic In Which We Serve (1942). Wilding often co-starred with Anna Neagle.

Wilder moved to Hollywood and was featured in two of Alfred Hitchcock's lesser efforts, Under Capricorn (1949) and Stage Fright (1950). Overall, Wilding's Hollywood career was less successful than his British career had been; yet, if he had not made the move, he wouldn't have been in the right place at the right time to catch a gorgeous 18-year-old Taylor, rebounding from the hard fists and mental cruelty of hotel-chain scion Conrad Hilton Jr. (better known as "Nicky" and great-uncle of the notoriously untalented tabloid star and amateur sex-tape queen Paris Hilton). Wilding divorced Kay Young (his wife since 1937) after 15 years of marriage, and two months later, at age 40, married the 19-year-old Liz in 1952. However, he lost her to studied wiseguy Michael Todd--a force of nature crafted from chutzpah if not pure, unadulterated high-test testosterone--in 1956. Wilding and his beautiful movie star wife were divorced in 1957, but the product of their love was two sons.

Some celebrity psycho-historians have claimed that Liz loved Wilding (more than twice her age when they married) like a father. The fact is that they remained good friends after the divorce. Since Wilding eventually consoled himself with marriage to legendary beauty Margaret Leighton, it's hard to feel sorry for him, other than the fact that Leighton's untimely death in 1975 left him a widower for the last four years of his life.

After uber-hustler Todd's death in a plane crash in 1958, Taylor stole crooner Eddie Fisher from her best friend Debbie Reynolds and (contrary to subsequent pronouncements) spent the first two to three years of their marriage making fabulous whoopee. While she boasted that he could make it three times per boudoir session, he complained that a $50,000 piece of jewelry would only keep her happy for three days.

Wilding came back into the picture after Liz, screendom's most spectacular (and most expensive) Cleopatra, imitated history by playing house with her on-screen Marc Antony, Welsh he-man and legendary inebriate Richard Burton, for the first time. After Liz suffered through the slings and arrows of yet another divorce and the Olympian battle of trying to keep up, glass for glass, with her "Taffy" (a pejorative name for Welshmen; on his part, Burton called her "Tubby"--and worse), Wilding went to work for the Burtons.

His career in pictures had begun dropping off in the 1950s due to poor health, and the Burtons were glad to have him around as part of their entourage, which went through the inflation-adjusted equivalent of about $350 million at the height of their fame circa 1963-73. Wilding was a companionable sort and was there to agree with Richie when, deep in his cups, he confessed to a journalist on the Puerto Vallarta set of The Night of the Iguana (1964) that if Liz's derrière got any bigger, she'd have to truss it up in a sling.

Wilding's last movie role was a non-speaking cameo in Robert Bolt's disastrous Lady Caroline Lamb (1973), which co-starred Leighton. It was an ignominious end to an honorable career in motion pictures. Ultimately, though, Wilding's immortality lies in his being the answer to a trivia question, consumed by the much larger personality of his 20-years younger ex-wife, the legendary Elizabeth Taylor.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Jon C. Hopwood (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)

Spouse

Margaret Leighton	(10 July 1964 - 13 January 1976) (her death)
Susan Neill	(12 February 1958 - 23 July 1962) (divorced)
Elizabeth Taylor	(21 February 1952 - 30 January 1957) (divorced) 2 children
Kay Young	(1937 - 18 December 1951) (divorced)

Trivia

Father of Christopher Edward Wilding and Michael Wilding Jr.

Father-in-law of Brooke Palance.

An epileptic seizure triggered Wilding's fall down a long flight of stairs in 1979. The head injuries received in that fall proved fatal.

Although he gave up a career as a studio artist, Wilding enjoyed painting far more than acting and continued sketching for the rest of his life.

Was involved with and nearly married actress Marie McDonald after his divorce from Elizabeth Taylor.

His best friend was the British actor Stewart Granger. The Wildings (Elizabeth Taylor) and the Grangers (Jean Simmons) were often seen on the town together in the 1950s.

With five failed marriages between them, Wilding and Margaret Leighton allegedly had a difficult time finding someone to marry them in 1964. They were denied not only by their church, but by many justices of the peace in the Los Angeles area. Wilding finally convinced a local judge by bribing him with a hundred-dollar bill.

Was more than twice Elizabeth Taylor's age when they married. She was 19 and he was 39. Wilding had divorced his wife of fifteen years, Kay Young, one month before marrying Taylor.

Personal Quotes

You can pick out actors by the glazed look that comes into their eyes when the conversation wanders away from themselves.

I was the worst actor I ever came across.

Salary

Derby Day (1952)

$3,000/week