According to Piper Laurie, both Jack Lemmon and George C. Scott were in poor health during filming. However, she claimed that while Lemmon frequently forgot his lines, Scott despite being very weak and tired never forgot his.
The title of the play (and therefore the movie) comes from the Book of Proverbs, 11:29: "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind."
The original Broadway production of "Inherit the Wind" by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee opened at the National Theater on 4/21/1955, ran for 806 performances and won two acting Tony Awards in 1956. The opening-night cast included Paul Muni as Drummond (Melvyn Douglas later took over the role when Muni developed a cataract), Ed Begley as Brady and Tony Randall as Hornbeck. There have been two Broadway revivals; in 1996 with Charles Durning and George C. Scott and in 2007 with Brian Dennehy and Christopher Plummer.