Michael Rennie
Rennie had been appearing in British films since the 1930’s (though usually uncredited until the middle of the 40’s) but ultimately won the role of the alien with a warning from space primarily on the basis of being unfamiliar to audiences. In fact, a number of high-profile actors were being considered for the part ranging from those who wanted the part, but was too famous (Spencer Tracy) to the those who wanted it but had prior commitments (Claude Rains) to those who turned it down flat, but could potentially have given an Oscar-worthy performance (Montgomery Clift).
Patricia Neal
After making a huge splash in just her second film, The Fountainhead, Neal’s career began to sputter as the studio tried to figure out where she fit within the studio system. As a result, she appeared in war films, westerns, and weepies and expected this “outer space” movie to disappear as quickly as the rest. A few years later, she left Hollywood for a short period. Not long after her return, the studio system was collapsing and she would go on to earn an Oscar and enjoy a long and varied career. Despite this, her most famous line of dialogue belongs to the movie about flying saucers she never imagined would become a classic: “Gort! Klaatu barada nikto.”
Billy Gray
Although working steadily as a child actor, Billy Gray never enjoyed the kind of breakthrough that turned him into a star like Shirley Temple or Mickey Rooney. Also giving an effective performance, The Day the Earth Stood Still was not the movie that was going to change that. It may have contributed to his becoming a TV teen heartthrob, however, as just a few years later he landed the role of Bud Anderson in the long-running family sitcom Father Knows Best. One interesting curiosity: Billy Gray was 13 at the time of the filming…the exact same age that Patricia Neal would have been when giving birth had she been his mother in real life.
Sam Jaffe
The producer of the film desperately wanted Sam Jaffe to play Prof. Barnhart because of his natural physical similarity to Albert Einstein, but came under serious pressure from the studio to fire him when he got caught up in the Hollywood blacklist that was destroying so many career at the time. The studio ultimately relented and allowed Jaffe to be cast, but over the ensuing decade he would appear in small roles (often uncredited) in just five films and once the blacklist officially ended, his career would be stalled in the purgatory of guest role hell on TV. Jaffe never was able to reclaim his status in feature films.
Lock Martin
Lock Martin had made a few small appearances in films in the 1940’s, but by 1950 he was employed as a doorman at the famous Grauman’s Chinese Theater where the handprints and footprints of famous stars were a big tourist attraction at the time. Although future star and Oscar-winner Jack Palance was touted for the part of the powerful robot, Martin possessed one quality that Palance did not: he was over seven feet tall. Martin went from movie theater doorman to the biggest man on the screens of the 50’s in a series of horror and science fiction roles before his tragically early death at age 42 in 1959.
