Ralph Bellamy and Alan Bunce are the only two actors from the original Broadway stage production to repeat their roles in the film.
Although Ann Shoemaker, who plays FDR's mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, in the film was not in the original Broadway production on opening night, she was the first and only full-time replacement for Anne Seymour in that production.
His role as Mr. Brimmer became the final feature film role for Lyle Talbot.
Responding to the protests of Franklin and Eleanor's children to the inaccurate and largely fictitious depiction of their grandmother Sara as a controlling and domineering harridan, the writer of the play and screenplay Dore Schary cheerfully responded, "Every play needs a villain!"
The Broadway production of "Sunrise at Campobello" by Dore Schary opened at the Cort Theater in New York on January 30, 1958, ran for 556 performances and won the 1958 Tony Award for the Best Play. Ralph Bellamy won the 1958 Tony Award for Best Actor in Play and recreated his stage role in the movie version.