His family were poor and Wilcox had to do a number of part-time jobs, including some work as a chorus boy at the local Hippodrome.

In 1919, Wilcox used his war gratuity to found his own distribution company, Astra Films, in association with his brother and a colleague, Jack Smart.

This enabled Wilcox to raise funds for a slate of films, before The Wonderful Story was released and flopped at the box office.

The film was shot in Germany at UFA's studios in association with Eric Pommer with a huge budget but was only a moderate success.

Wilcox signed up top stage artists such as Jack Buchanan, Tom Walls and Ralph Lynn and Sydney Howard, with C.B.

[21] He made an arrangement to produce a series of films in association with His Master's Voice gramophone company, with the aim of using their celebrity recording stars.

Wilcox's plans to make The Life of Beethoven[23] and a version of Don Quixote starring Chaliapin had to be cancelled.

[24] Wilcox produced Rookery Nook (1930), an Aldwych farce based on the play by Ben Travers and directed by Tom Walls.

He acted as producer only on Splinters (1930), high Treason (1930, The Mountain of Mourne (1930), Warned Off (1930), On Approval (1930), Tons of Money (1930), Mischief (1931), The Speckled Band (1931), Plunder (1931), Almost a Divorce (1931), Up for the Cup (1931) with Sydney Howard, The Barton Mystery (1932), Life Goes On (1932), Thark (1932), Leap Year (1932), It's a King (1932),The Love Contract (1932), Say It with Music(1932), The Mayor's Nest (1932), and A Night Like This (1932).

As a director he made The Chance of a Night Time (1931) with Ralph Lynn from a play by Ben Travers; Carnival (1931); and The Blue Danube (1933).

Wilcox's professional relationship with Anna Neagle began when he was looking for a leading lady to support Jack Buchanan in Goodnight, Vienna (1932).

[25] He used Neagle again in The Flag Lieutenant (1932) He made some films without her – Money Means Nothing (1932), The King's Cup (1933), General John Regan (1933), The Blarney Stone (1933), The King of Paris (1933), Lord of the Manor (1933), Discord (1933) – then they were reunited on The Little Damozel (1933), a conscious effort on Wilcox's part to ensure that Neagle was not type cast as an "English Rose".

This company would go on to acquire Gaumont British and the Odeon circuit and form the back bone of the Rank Film empire.

[30] Their first film was Street Singer Serenade (1936), aka Limelight, directed by Wilcox with Neagle and Jack Buchanan.

It was followed by Fame (1936), which he produced, starring Sydney Howard and new Wilcox discovers Miki Hood and Geraldine Hislop.

He wanted to make an epic version of The Blue Lagoon with Hollywood stars to be shot mostly on location in Hawaii and a biopic of Lady Hamilton with Neagle but neither was made.

Victoria the Great (1937) was a massive success and led to Wilcox signing a ten-year deal with RKO to help finance and distribute the films.

In July 1941, Wilcox and Neagle returned to England to make They Flew Alone (1942) a biopic of Amy Johnson and the war thriller Yellow Canary (1943).

[37] Wilcox and Neagle had a big hit with I Live in Grosvenor Square (1945), co starring Rex Harrison and Dean Jagger.

Wilding was not in their next film, Elizabeth of Ladymead (1948) but returned for Maytime in Mayfair (1949), a sequel to Spring in Park Lane, and another massive success.

Neagle and Wilding were reunited for The Lady with a Lamp (1951), a biopic of Florence Nightingale and Derby Day (1952), an ensemble film.

In November 1951 Wilcox signed a multi picture deal with Margaret Lockwood to make six films in three years.

The first movie Lockwood-Wilcox film, Trent's Last Case (1952) was a solid success, helped by a cast including Wilding and Orson Welles.

However Laughing Anne (1953), co-starring Forrest Tucker and Wendell Corey, and Trouble in the Glen (1954), with Welles, did poorly and he made no further films with Lockwood or Republic.

He produced but did not direct a war film, Yangtse Incident (1957), which performed reasonably well at the British box office but ultimately lost money.

[43][44] However, the musical play Charlie Girl, starring his wife Anna Neagle, ran for five years and resolved this financial situation.

[46] According to one profile "The conventional view of Wilcox is that, despite his eventual bankruptcy, his considerable entrepreneurial skills enabled him to sustain a continued presence over a long period in a notoriously unstable industry; discussion of his directorial qualities usually acknowledges his professionalism but falls short of crediting him with any authorial status.

"[47] In June 1917, Herbert Wilcox was granted a divorce from his first wife Dorothy, whom he had married on 2 December 1916 at St Luke's (CoE), Brighton.

Prior to his death at the age of 87 in London, England after a long illness, Wilcox donated four Daily Mail National Film Awards to the Glebelands Retirement Home in Wokingham.

Wilcox lost the Festival's Best Director award to Robert J. Flaherty and Zoltán Korda for Elephant Boy.