Final filmed and final public appearance for Lee Strasberg, who died just four days later, on February 17, 1982.
In his 1989 autobiography "It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here...", Charles Grodin recalls that all he and Ellen Burstyn were initially asked to do was to step through a giant poster of their hit Broadway play, "Same Time, Next Year as part of a segment featuring various Broadway stars. But during the two day rehearsal he learned to his dismay that a choreographed dance had been added, which was no problem for Burstyn, but had Grodin stumbling along with her during the final broadcast.
The only time that James Mason and Arlene Dahl ever worked on the same project other than their sometimes tumultuous co-starring in Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) over two decades earlier.
The only shared credit of Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon other than their respective title roles in Harold and Maude (1971) as well as a special episode of This Is Your Life (1970) (Ruth Gordon (1971)) the same year as the cult classic black comedy/drama film.
The roster of stars appearing included a strong representation of cast members from the films of director Alfred Hitchcock, those films and stars including: Psycho (1960) (Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Martin Balsam and Ted Knight); Strangers on a Train (1951) (Farley Granger); North by Northwest (1959) (James Mason); and Rear Window (1954) (James Stewart and Grace Kelly who by this time was of course appearing as Princess Grace of Monaco); with Stewart also representing Vertigo (1958), Rope (1948) (along with Granger) and The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), the princess also representing Dial M for Murder (1954) and To Catch a Thief (1955); and among other stars appearing, Gregory Peck representing Spellbound (1945) and The Paradine Case (1947); John Forsythe representing The Trouble with Harry (1955) and Topaz (1969); Tony Randall whose earliest film appearance was a bit part in Saboteur (1942); Sylvia Sidney who was the star of the earliest Hitchcock film represented that evening Sabotage (1936); Joel McCrea representing Foreign Correspondent (1940); Paul Newman representing Torn Curtain (1966); and Peter Ustinov representing Under Capricorn (1949), not as an actor but as one of the film's uncredited screenwriters.