Trivia

The role of Ruth was intended for Susan Strasberg - who was tested for the part - but the studio decided to cast Elana Eden after they saw her screen test for The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and were stunned by her beauty and talent. However, she made only one subsequent movie, a B-picture some five years later.

Victor Buono's first film. He went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). In this film, he played the Moabite priest who notices the blemish on Ruth's arm and scolds the High Priestess.

Stephen Boyd was originally cast as Boaz but pulled out of the project.

Before Peggy Wood was cast as Naomi, Helen Hayes and Irene Dunne were offered the role.

This subject had been mooted as a Hollywood film for some years. Howard Hawks - rather surprisingly - had announced a biblical film to be called "The Song Of Ruth" about half-a-dozen years earlier, with Audrey Hepburn in the lead. But he made "Land Of The Pharaohs" instead.