Trivia

Sir Patrick Stewart played Sir Derek Jacobi's stepfather despite being two years younger.

Lalla Ward was teased by Sir Patrick Stewart because, at the time she made this movie, she was appearing in Doctor Who (1963). Stewart told her he wouldn't be caught dead doing science fiction. Within a few years, however, he appeared in David Lynch's Dune (1984), in Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce (1985), as Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), and as Professor X in the X-Men film franchise. Both Claire Bloom (Gertrude) and Derek Jacobi (Hamlet) ended up decades later in roles in Doctor Who.

Sir Derek Jacobi, who plays Hamlet, was Claudius in Sir Kenneth Branagh's version of Hamlet (1996).

Sir Patrick Stewart played Claudius again in a 2008 Royal Shakespeare Company production, winning a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance. His Hamlet then was David Tennant who had already played Doctor Who, while here his Hamlet is Derek Jacobi who would years later play Doctor Who's nemesis, The Master.

Claire Bloom, who played Hamlet's mother, is only seven years older than her on-screen son.