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Michael Rennie autograph from "The Day The Earth Stood Still" with COA

This is a Great signature of Michael Rennie mounted & framed with a 8 by 10 black & white picture

With the war's end in May 1945, Michael Rennie began to be seen as a potential star as a result of playing second leads in two vehicles for Britain's most popular leading actress of the era, Margaret Lockwood: the musical I'll Be Your Sweetheart and, most prominently, the sensual costume adventure The Wicked Lady. The latter turned out to be the year's biggest box office hit, subsequently being listed ninth on a list of top ten highest-grossing British films. He also had a single prominent scene as a commander of Roman centurions in the film described at the time as the most expensive (and financially ruinous) British film enterprise ever made, Gabriel Pascal's production of George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra, starring Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains.

Second leads and then leads in seven other British films produced between 1946 and 1949 followed, including what may be considered Michael Rennie's only role as one of two central characters in a full-fledged love story. In the 47-minute episode "Sanatorium", the longest among the Somerset Maugham tales constituting the film Trio (released in London on 1 August 1950), the mature-looking, lightly mustached, 40-year-old Rennie and the 20-years-younger Jean Simmons are patients in the title institution, which caters to victims of tuberculosis. They fall in love and decide to marry, despite the doctor's grim prognosis that Rennie, a former Army major, can only expect a few months of life; Simmons's character also faces a premature death within a couple of years. The final scene shows them joyfully leaving their institutional surroundings, secure in the knowledge that their brief remaining time will be spent in the happiness of their love for each other and the ability to face the inevitable on their own terms. Their indomitable spirit even gives inspiration to the other patients who cannot leave the "Sanatorium" but whose sagging spirits are momentarily lifted out of the doldrums of depression.

Jean Simmons would, in fact, turn out to be Michael Rennie's most frequent costar. Although they shared no scenes within the context of their minor roles in Caesar and Cleopatra, it was the first of their four films together. The remaining two titles were both 20th Century-Fox epics made in 1953–54 that had them primarily involved with other characters. In 1953's The Robe and its 1954 sequel, Demetrius and the Gladiators, Rennie was billed fourth and third, respectively, playing the Apostle Peter, who provides affirmation in the new faith, as Jean and Richard Burton become martyrs for Christianity. In the sequel, they were only briefly seen in a flashback, as the focus shifted to Demetrius (Victor Mature), third-billed in The Robe; his temptation by the sexually brazen (within 1954 standards) future Empress Messalina (Susan Hayward); and the continued religious support and uplift provided by Peter to Demetrius and other faithful.

The final film that cast Michael Rennie with Jean Simmons was 1954's Desiree. He was again billed fourth, after Marlon Brando (as Napoleon), Simmons (as the title character, Désirée Clary), and Merle Oberon (as Joséphine). As French marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, who becomes King Charles XIV John of Sweden, Rennie marries Jean's Désirée, but her true love always remains with Brando's Napoleon.

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