Trivia / The Guns of Navarone

• Actor-Shared Background / Cast the Expert:
  • During World War II, David Niven commanded units in both the Commandos and the GHQ Liaison Regiment, a special reconnaissance unit that operated behind enemy lines.
  • Anthony Quayle spent part of the war in Albania organizing guerrilla forces. Like his character, Franklin, he was a Major.
• Backed by the Pentagon: The Hellenic armed forces lent tanks, aircraft and ships.
• Dawson Casting: Gregory Peck was a decade older than his character. In fact, because the stars were all too old for their characters, the movie was nicknamed "Elderly Gang Goes Off to War" by the British press.
• Dueling Movies: Although not said or confirmed, it can possibly be noted that this film outperformed and beat Walt Disney’s 101 Dalmatians and became the highest grossing film of 1961. Despite all this, 101 Dalmatians still proved to be a box office success to keep the Disney Studio alive and remains the tenth highest grossing film of 1961.
• Fake Australian: Richard Harris as an Australian Air Force member.
• Fake Brit: Gregory Peck, who is American in Real Life.
• On-Set Injury: David Niven almost drowned during filming of an ocean storm scene inside a large water tank. He sustained a cut lip that led the actor being hospitalized with sepsis, which halted production on the film for a month. He insisted on returning to complete filming of his scenes before he had fully recovered, later causing a relapse of his illness that resulted in another seven weeks in hospital.
• Referenced by...: In the Pikmin series, one of the boss monsters is the Man-at-Legs, a metallic spider-like creature armed with a machine gun. Olimar's journal entry on the creature reveals that its scientific name is "Pseudoarachnia navaronia".
  • One Piece: The anime-only G-8 arc takes place on an island named Navarone, complete with supposedly-invincible fortress.
• What Could Have Been:
  • William Holden was the first actor sought to play Mallory. He asked for $750,000 plus 10% of the gross. He was turned down and Gregory Peck was cast. Holden felt the role was too similar to the character he had played in The Bridge on the River Kwai.
  • Rock Hudson was considered for Mallory. Cary Grant was also briefly considered, but was rejected as being too old at 56. There had been talk of Gary Cooper playing Mallory, but he underwent surgery for prostate cancer in April 1960 after it had spread to his colon.
  • Dean Martin and Alec Guinness were considered for Miller.
  • Marlon Brando passed on the role of Stavros.
  • Opera legend Maria Callas (her image is at the top of the trope page) was originally announced as Maria Pappadimos, but withdrew after location shooting was moved from Cyprus to Rhodes.

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