Although Miss Jane Marple is presented as elderly, and the leading men as middle-aged, Dame Angela Lansbury, Tony Curtis, and Rock Hudson were all born in 1925.
Final lead starring role in a cinema movie for Dame Elizabeth Taylor. According to publicity for this movie, this was Taylor's first big role in a feature film in four years.
At this time of her career Elizabeth Taylor's career was in the doldrums. She was now 48 years old, hadn't had a decent hit film for several years, her marriage to US politician John Warner was struggling, she was taking anti-depressants and had put on weight. When Rock Hudson was approached to do the film he said he would only do it if his long time friend Taylor could also be cast. The producers had assumed that Taylors salary demands would put the film well over budget and were lining up Donald Pleasance as a possible alternative to Hudson. However Hudson said that he could get Taylor to agree to star with him for the same salary he was being offered. Hudson convinced Taylor that coming to England for a few weeks to do a mainstream film with him, Lansbury and Tony Curtis (people Taylor had known for about thirty years) would be beneficial for her mental health plus give her a chance to catch up with old friends who lived there.
In a 1998 interview, Dame Angela Lansbury stated that playing Miss Jane Marple was "terrific" and that she "enjoyed" it very much, but thought this movie was "dreadful".