Michael Rennie Movies and Career Information

Michael Rennie (25 August 1909 – 10 June 1971) was an English film, television, and stage actor, best known for his starring role as the space visitor Klaatu in the 1951 classic science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still. Eric Alexander Rennie was born in Idle, a village near the West Riding of Yorkshire city of Bradford (subsequently a Bradford suburb) and educated at The Leys School, Cambridge. He attempted a number of professions, including periods as car salesman and manager of his uncle's rope factory, before deciding (at the time of his 26th birthday, in 1935) on a career as an actor. Retaining his surname but adopting the professional name Michael Rennie, the tall (6′4″) show business hopeful with chiseled cheekbones and features first appeared onscreen in an uncredited bit part in Alfred Hitchcock's Secret Agent, which had its London premiere in May 1936. During the late 1930s, Rennie served his apprenticeship as an actor, gaining experience in acting technique while touring the provinces in British repertory. There is evidence that, at the age of 28, he was noticed by one of the British film studios, which decided to appraise his potential as a film personality by