Trivia

Although Marlon Brando didn't take his role seriously--despite every effort by director Henry Koster--"Desiree" outgrossed his other 1954 film, "On the Waterfront (1954)."

Director Henry Koster was an amateur Napoleon scholar, something that Darryl F. Zanuck did not know when he assigned him to the picture.

Montgomery Clift turned down the part of Napoleon.

Marlon Brando decided on doing this movie in order to work off the legal obligation he incurred after having walked away from the lead role in "The Egyptian."

In his memoirs many years later, Brando criticized his own performance. He described it as "superficial."