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 Ceux qui servent en mer (1942). Wilding often co-starred with Anna Neagle.Wilding moved to Hollywood and was featured in two of Alfred Hitchcock's lesser efforts, Les amants du Capricorne (1949) and Le grand alibi (1950).Wilding's last movie role was a non-speaking cameo in Robert Bolt's La vie tumultueuse de Lady Caroline Lamb (1972), which co-starred Leighton.