Editing Michael Rennie (section)

==Early years and career==
Rennie was born in [[Idle, West Yorkshire|Idle]] near [[Bradford]], [[West Riding of Yorkshire]], the second son of a Scottish wool mill owner, James Rennie, and his English wife Amelia (née Dobby). He had an elder brother William, younger brother Gordon and sister Edith. The Rennie business had operated for over 150 years, and the family was relatively well off. He was educated at [[the Leys School]], [[Cambridge]].

He went to work at the family mill in Bradford, but did not enjoy it. He worked in a number of occupations, including a stint as a car salesman, and sweeping floors in his uncle's steel ropes factory. He eventually decided (at the time of his 26th birthday, in 1935) on a career as an actor. He retained his surname but adopted Michael as his professional name.<ref name="obit">{{cite news| title=Michael Rennie, Film and TV Actor, Dead at 62| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/11/archives/michael-rennie-film-and-tv-actor-dead-at-621-sarred-as-harry-lime-i.html| newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| date=11 June 1971| page=38| url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201015070837/https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/11/archives/michael-rennie-film-and-tv-actor-dead-at-621-sarred-as-harry-lime-i.html?searchResultPosition=1 |archive-date=October 15, 2020}}</ref> He cited [[Ronald Colman]] as his role model.<ref name="jean"/>

===Early British films===
The 6' 4" tall Rennie attracted the interest of a casting director at [[Gaumont British]], who took him on as an extra. Rennie said entering the film industry at this level was a deliberate strategy, so he could learn how pictures were made.<ref>{{cite news|title=Actor Michael Rennie Dies; Starred in 'Third Man' on TV|work=The Washington Post and Times-Herald|date=11 June 1971|page=C6}}</ref> Head of production [[Michael Balcon]] said Rennie was taken on  "because he was good-looking and athletic. He knew nothing of acting, but was given a contract to play small parts and to work as stand-in for players such as [[Robert Young (actor)|Robert Young]] and [[John Loder (actor)|John Loder]]."<ref name="michael">{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51280328 |title=Demand For Youth |newspaper=[[The Australian Women's Weekly]] |volume=9 |issue=39 |date=28 February 1942 |access-date=25 March 2017 |page=14 (The Movie World) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

Rennie's first screen acting was an uncredited bit part in the [[Alfred Hitchcock]] film ''[[Secret Agent (1936 film)|Secret Agent]]'' (1936), standing in for Robert Young. Balcon says he saw Rennie act in a scene in ''[[East Meets West (1936 film)|East Meets West]]'' (1936) and fired him immediately afterwards. Balcon wrote "I had seen the rushes of that day's filming and had at once decided that Rennie was far too inexperienced to justify big screen parts."<ref name="michael"/>

The 1937 screen test, which exists in the [[British Film Institute]] (BFI) archives under the title "[[Marguerite Allan]] and Michael Rennie Screen Test", did not lead to a film career for either performer.<ref>{{cite web| website=BFI| title=Marguerite Allan and Michael Rennie Screen Test| url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/587625| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090920075214/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/587625| archive-date=20 September 2009| access-date=19 August 2020}}</ref>

Balcon says Rennie "took his setback well, left the studios, and went off to learn his job in repertory."<ref name="michael"/> Rennie worked mostly in Yorkshire, eventually becoming a star with the [[York Repertory Company]]. Among his roles were as Professor Henry Higgins in ''[[Pygmalion (play)|Pygmalion]]''.

He also played other bit parts and minor unbilled roles in other films, including ''[[The Man Who Could Work Miracles]]'' (1936), ''[[Conquest of the Air]]'' (1937), ''[[The Squeaker (1937 film)|The Squeaker]]'' (1937), ''[[Gangway (film)|Gangway]]'' (1937), ''[[The Divorce of Lady X]]'' (1938), ''[[Bank Holiday (film)|Bank Holiday]]'' (1938), ''[[This Man in Paris]]'' (1939) & ''[[The Briggs Family]]'' (1940). He later said he strove to perfect a "[[Good American Speech|mid-Atlantic accent]]" that could easily be understood by American as well as British audiences which resulted in people thinking he was Canadian.<ref name="jean"/>