diff --git a/django/newforms/widgets.py b/django/newforms/widgets.py
index c3e4b09d93..076845427d 100644
--- a/django/newforms/widgets.py
+++ b/django/newforms/widgets.py
@@ -161,8 +161,11 @@ class DateTimeInput(Input):
             self.format = format
 
     def render(self, name, value, attrs=None):
-        return super(DateTimeInput, self).render(name,
-                value.strftime(self.format), attrs)
+        if value is None:
+            value = ''
+        elif hasattr(value, 'strftime'):
+            value = value.strftime(self.format)
+        return super(DateTimeInput, self).render(name, value, attrs)
 
 class CheckboxInput(Widget):
     def __init__(self, attrs=None, check_test=bool):
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/forms/widgets.py b/tests/regressiontests/forms/widgets.py
index 032f3cbb91..cb1d084631 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/forms/widgets.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/forms/widgets.py
@@ -855,6 +855,8 @@ u'<input type="text" class="pretty" value="2006-01-10" name="date_0" /><input ty
 # DateTimeInput ###############################################################
 
 >>> w = DateTimeInput()
+>>> w.render('date', None)
+u'<input type="text" name="date" />'
 >>> d = datetime.datetime(2007, 9, 17, 12, 51, 34, 482548)
 >>> print d
 2007-09-17 12:51:34.482548