Cat Ballou - Production Notes

Production Notes

• At the beginning of the film's opening credits, the Columbia Pictures "Torch Lady" does a quick-change into a cartoon Cat Ballou, who draws and fires her pistols into the air.
• Nat King Cole was ill with lung cancer during the filming of Cat Ballou. A chain smoker most of his life, Cole died several months before the film was released.
• Among many others, Kirk Douglas allegedly turned down the role of Shelleen; ironically, many years later he would play a similar double role in The Man from Snowy River. Jack Palance desperately wanted the role but was never offered it.
• Ann-Margret was first choice for the title role but turned it down.
• The film was shot in just 28 days.
• The film was director Elliot Silverstein's second feature film, and his relationship with producer Harold Hecht during filming was not smooth.