"The Day The Earth Stood Still

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Produced by 20th Century Fox
Directed by Robert Wise
Written by Edmund H. North
Based on 'Farewell to the Master' by Harry Bates
Cinematography by Leo Tover
Music by Bernard Herrmann

Major Cast

Michael Rennie
Patricia Neal
Hugh Marlowe
Sam Jaffe
Billy Gray
Frances Bavier
Lock Martin
Drew Pearson
Frank Conroy
Carleton Young
Fay Roope
Edith Evanson
Robert Osterloh
Tyler McVey
James Seay

Klaatu
Helen Benson
Tom Stevens
Dr. Barnhardt
Bobby Benson
Mrs. Barley
Gort
Himself
Harley
Colonel
Major General
Mrs. Crockett
Major White
Brady
Government Man

Colour photo of Michael Rennie as "Klaatu" courtesy of Dreamer.

Michael Rennie
Born: 1909 Bradford, England
Died: 1971 Harrogate, England

Michael Rennie was born on Aug. 25, 1909, in Bradford, England. He started work as a salesman but got into acting as an extra in British films in the 1930's. Moving to the USA in the 1940's he soon developed into a reasonably big star. Never destined for huge success, he nevertheless was kept very busy in movies during the fifies, with The Day the Earth Stood Still as his major role.
Films were fewer in the sixties and he turned to television, landing a starring role as Harry Lime in 'The Third Man'. He also appeared in such shows as; The Man from U.N.C.L.E., (1964 and 1967), I Spy (1965), Lost in Space, (1965) Laya (1967) The Invaders (1967), The Innocent (1967). He also played The Sandman in the Batman TV series.
Although the film roles declined to a certain extent, Michael continued acting right up to his death at the age of 62 in 1971.

Patricia Neal is known as a strong dramatic actress whose real-life experiences rivaled any of her superb screen performances. After studying speech and drama at Northwestern University, she understudied on Broadway in "Voice of the Turtle" and won a Tony Award for Lillian Hellman's "Another Part of the Forest." This led to numerous offers from Hollywood. She married writer Roald Dahl in 1953, and returned to American films as the woman who discovers the dangerous hayseed Lonesome Rhodes in A Face in the Crowd (1957). Her career peaked with a searing, Oscarwinning performance as Alma, the house keeper in Hud (1963), but during the 1960s Neal sustained great personal tragedy: her youngest child, Theo, was hit by a cab and her daughter Olivia died from measles at the age of seven. She then suffered a series of paralyzing strokes and went through years of rehabilitation before making a triumphant comeback as the mother of a returning war veteran in The Subject Was Roses (1968). Since then, she has appeared sporadically in films." Her autobiography "As I Am" was published in 1988 and Glenda Jackson played her in the TV movie The Patricia Neal Story (1981).