Michael was appearing on the London stage when Darryl Zanuck spotted him looking for some one to play Klattu in The Day The Earth Stood Still he contacted 20th Century Fox saying I ve found my Klattu Michael was a perfect Klattu but Hollywood found it difficult to understand this outspoken Yorkshireman with his perfect voice so he was supporting roles for Fox By 1955 he went free lance then in 1958 came the decision which changed his life he signed a contract with the BBC to play Harry Lime in the series The Third Man His marriage to Maggie ended in divorce on 1960 there only son David was born on March 8th 1953 He returned to Britain and became a household name and women still swooned over him and the lop sided smile which opened the programme nobody knew why he smiled like that they still don t He played Lime for six years and when it ended work was hard to come by then his health began to fail always a heavy smoker he had emphysema and the wonderful warm voice with the Mid Atlantic accent he was so famous for had to be dubbed By 1970 his long career was over and on June 10th 1971 while staying with his Mother in Harrogate he suffered a ruptured dissecting aneurism of the abdominal aorta and passed away as he predicted the newspaper headlines read THIRD MAN RENNIE DEAD he is buried in Harlow Hill Otley Road Cemetery with his parents a great talent lost to soon He will always be Third Man Rennie but to me my own Third Man Rennie Sleep Well my Darling until we meet again Your Val