The day after shooting wrapped, Gale Sondergaard was called back for some closeups. However, when she arrived on the set in makeup and costume, Charlton Heston entered and presented her with an Academy gold statuette, to replace the plaque she had won for 1936's Anthony Adverse.
Director Curtis Harrington's plans to make the Hester Black character a lesbian were shot down by the network's standards and practices department, which sent him a threatening letter stipulating that there could be no references to homosexuality in the film. Annoyed by the network's closed-mindedness, Harrington retaliated by adding a midget prostitute character into the film.
The network executives wanted Patty Duke to play the lead, but director Curtis Harrington was adamant that she was completely wrong for the part.
To give her a more exotic look, Meredith Baxter was asked to wear green contact lenses and a red wig.
Twelve minutes of the original film was edited out to fit its broadcast time slot. There are twelve minutes of this movie that were never seen by viewers.