TV SERIES · 1985– · USA
North and South
23 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (23)
- #001
James Read spent several weeks at Patrick Swayze's horse ranch to prepare for the role of George Hazard, where Swayze taught Read to ride.
- #002
Because the modern West Point bears little physical resemblance to the 1842 Academy, the West Point scenes were filmed at Jefferson College outside Natchez, Mississippi. Local military school cadets and R.O.T.C. students appearing in the miniseries were allowed to grow their hair for six months to achieve the proper period look.
- #003
The historic buildings were accurate, but the furniture was often priceless antique pieces too fragile to be used. The production team brought in its own pieces, such as the bronze and marble statues (worth more than $200,000) that decorated the house used as the New Orleans brothel.
- #004
Living-history groups with expertise in recreating the Mexican-American War battle of Churubusco (1847) filmed the battle on a site near Natchez, Mississippi. In mid-May 1984, 14 reenactment units from a dozen states spent a week staging the largest authentic encampment of Mexican War reenactors ever organized. More than 140 people brought their own (mostly handmade) period-correct uniforms, sidearms, cannons, caissons, limbers, battery wagons, field ambulances, tents and camp equipment. The production company provided water, hay, feed and straw for the horses, reimbursed gunpowder and made a donation to each participating unit.
- #005
James Read's great-great-uncle Sebaldus Hassler fought and died with the Union Army, falling at the battle at Vicksburg, Mississippi, on May 20, 1863. Read's great-great-great-grandfather Sampson T. Groves served in the First Ohio Volunteer Heavy Artillery until his honorable discharge on July 25, 1865, and afterward lived to a very old age.
- #006
George Hazard and Orry Main were part of West Point's Class of 1846, perhaps the most famous graduating class in West Point history. George B. McClellan ranked second in the class, Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson 17th, and George Pickett (later famous for "Pickett's Charge" at Gettysburg) last. All of them rose to the rank of general. Charles Seaforth Stewart, who ranked first in the class, was a colonel.
- #007
The production took two years and comprised 8,700 wardrobe pieces (each lead actor wore 28 to 35 different costumes), 940 scenes, a 540-page script and more than $25 million.
- #008
In the promotional photo of James Read and Patrick Swayze in uniform used as the main artwork for the DVD collection, the U.S. flag and the Texas flag appear behind them. The photo was taken during filming of the Churubusco scenes, and the only flags present on set were the U.S. and Texas flags.
- #009
With two exceptions, none of the main characters wears the same thing twice (aside from military or servant clothing). Ashton wears the same purple dress when arriving at and leaving Mont Royal. Madeline wears the same dress when visiting her father on his deathbed and when leaving Mont Royal.
- #010
According to an extra from North & South: Book 2, Love & War (1986), the panic in the wide shot of the big Manassas scene was not staged. A gun went off at a moment when it should not have, someone ran in a direction they should not have, and chaos broke out.
- #011
Philip Casnoff was nearly passed over for the role of Elkanah Bent because the producers thought he was too short. Casnoff won them over in a rehearsal scene in which he slammed another actor against a wall and screamed at him. Casnoff said he drew on the anger he felt from having recently been attacked in a parking lot to audition.
- #012
The exterior scenes of Mont Royal were filmed at Boone Hall; the interior scenes were shot at Stanton Hall.
- #013
The All Saints Chapel was a constructed set.
- #014
According to Kirstie Alley's memoirs, she and Patrick Swayze fell in love with each other during filming. Both were married to other people, and they did not cheat on their spouses.
- #015
Alveda King, Martin Luther King Jr.'s niece, plays Leah, the slave who brings bread to Madeline after Justin locks her in her room.
- #016
Many actors and actresses from the Star Trek series also appeared. Kirstie Alley starred in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). Jonathan Frakes appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), while Jean Simmons, John Anderson, Mitchell Ryan and David Ogden Stiers appeared in various episodes.
- #017
The series led to three marriages: James Read and Wendy Kilbourne, Jonathan Frakes and Genie Francis, and Lesley-Anne Down and Don E. FauntLeRoy.
- #018
Mitchell Ryan appeared in Dark Shadows (1966), and Jean Simmons appeared in Dark Shadows (1991).
- #019
Forest Whitaker and Mark Moses appeared in Platoon (1986).
- #020
Lesley-Anne Down met her husband, cinematographer Don E. FauntLeRoy, on the set of this miniseries, where he was an assistant camera operator. They worked together thereafter on Scenes from the Goldmine (1987), Ladykillers (1988), Night Walk (1989), The Frog Girl: The Jenifer Graham Story (1989), Night Trap (1993), North and South: Book 3, Heaven and Hell (1994), Munchie Strikes Back (1994), Young Hearts Unlimited (1998), The King's Guard (2000), The Perfect Wife (2001), Today You Die (2005), Seven Days of Grace (2006), Mercenary for Justice (2006), The Rosewood Lane (2011), Dark House (2014), I Am Watching You (2016), A Cinderella Christmas (2016) and Gates of Darkness (2019).
- #021
John Stockwell and William Ostrander appeared in Christine (1983).
- #022
Hal Holbrook had previously played Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln (1974), also produced by David L. Wolper Productions. Holbrook said he considered his performance in the "Lincoln" miniseries far superior to his work here. He said he was proud of his work on "Lincoln," but called the "North and South" television epics nothing but "Hollywood bullshit." Holbrook later appeared as Francis Preston Blair in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (2012).
- #023
Mitchell Ryan and Fred Lerner appeared in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995).
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