Early Years
Eric Alexander Rennie was born in Idle near Bradford, Yorkshire. He received his education at the Leys School, Cambridge. Rennie tried out a number of occupations, including periods as car salesman and as the 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 6' 4" tall show business hopeful, with chiseled facial features, first appeared onscreen in an uncredited bit part in the 1936 premiere of Sir Alfred Hitchcock's film Secret Agent.
During the late 1930s, Rennie served his apprenticeship as an actor, gaining experience in 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 arranging a screen test. The 1937 screen test, which exists in the British Film Institute archives under the title "Marguerite Allan and Michael Rennie Screen Test," did not lead to a film career for either performer. In Secret Agent, he was primarily a stand-in for leading man Robert Young, and his on-camera sequence was so small that it cannot be discerned in the preserved final version of the film. He also played other bit parts, and minor unbilled roles in ten additional films produced between 1936 and 1940; the last of which, Pimpernel Smith, had a belated release in July 1941, when Rennie was already in uniform, serving in the Royal Air Force.
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