Marlon Brando is reported to have prepared for his role as an embittered paraplegic by lying in bed for a month in a veterans' hospital in order to learn how to maneuver a wheelchair effectively.
To accustom himself to his role as a paraplegic, Brando remained in a wheelchair on and off the set for the duration of the shoot. He reluctantly made an exception to this "method" in order to attend a Hollywood party where he wanted to meet Charles Chaplin. His date, Shelley Winters, who invited him to the party, insisted he come dressed nicely and sans wheelchair or not come at all.
According to Marlon Brando, this film role classified him as 1-A to the Army and he reported for induction during the Korean War. He was, however, denied on grounds of having problems with authority and his bizarre answers to a questionnaire by the psychiatrist, thus making him unsuitable for service.
Jay Kantor, a mail-room clerk at Lew Wasserman's talent agency Music Corp. of America in 1949, was sent to pick up Broadway actor Marlon Brando and drive him to the agency. Impressed by the young man, Brando promptly appointed Kantor his agent. Kantor got Brando his first film role, that of the paraplegic Army officer in this film, for $50,000 (approximately $400,000 in 2006 money).
After James Dean first arrived in Manhattan in 1952, he watched this film several times at the 42nd Street Loews Complex in Times Square.