TV SERIES · 1988–
War and Remembrance
38 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (38)
- #001
Compared with The Winds of War (1983), the series delivered a disappointing performance in viewing figures.
- #002
Producers considered replacing the seventy-year-old Robert Mitchum with fifty-nine-year-old James Coburn, concerned that Mitchum was too old and ill to reprise the role of Victor "Pug" Henry.
- #003
Ralph Bellamy was eighty-three years old when he played President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died at sixty-three.
- #004
During a break in filming, Robert Mitchum took on a role in Mr. North (1988) opposite John Huston, who was dying of pneumonia and emphysema.
- #005
The one-thousand-four-hundred-and-ninety-two-page script contained two thousand and seventy scenes, three hundred and fifty-eight speaking parts and seven hundred and fifty-seven locations worldwide, and involved more than forty-four thousand actors, actresses and extras.
- #006
With a cost of over one hundred and ten million dollars, it was the most expensive miniseries of its time.
- #007
Sir John Gielgud worked on this project for eight months.
- #008
Paramount Pictures, which had financed The Winds of War (1983), took on the financing of the sequel, so ABC paid for it.
- #009
The miniseries was criticized for downplaying Soviet oppression. Before invading the Baltic States in 1940, the Soviets had invaded Poland and Finland in 1939.
- #010
Several former prisoners of the camp helped with the authenticity of the selection scenes at Auschwitz; they were given consultancy roles and appeared as extras, reliving their own experiences more than forty years later.
- #011
Sir John Gielgud took over the role of Aaron Jastrow from John Houseman. Before Houseman was cast, Gielgud was one of several actors who had played the law professor in The Paper Chase (1973).
- #012
Byron eventually finds his son Louis in England thanks to the Royal Air Force's program of finding homes to adopt Jewish orphans. That program existed in real life. Jane Seymour's first husband, Michael Attenborough, had two aunts who were adopted through the program.
- #013
Pat Hingle served in the US Navy in the Pacific Theater, meaning he served under Admiral Halsey, whom he played in this miniseries.
- #014
This was the first production shot at Auschwitz, after Dan Curtis lobbied the Polish Communist government for filming permission. Because the building was demolished by the Nazis at the end of 1944, a full-scale replica of Crematorium II was built next to the original site.
- #015
Aaron Jastrow says he buys coffee from Bernard Berenson, who never appears. Berenson was in fact a real person, an expatriate American Jew and art historian who converted to Christianity, and a major inspiration for Jastrow's character.
- #016
The scenes at Hitler's Reich Chancellery in Berlin were filmed in and around the Hofburg Palace in Vienna.
- #017
When the miniseries aired in North America, it failed to attract younger viewers.
- #018
Edmund Pegge believes he was not asked to play Burne-Wilke again because of a mistake he made with a pipe during the filming of The Winds of War (1983), so the role was given to Michael Elwyn.
- #019
This was Howard Caine's (Lord Beaverbrook) last miniseries role. Caine's best-known role was probably as Nazi Gestapo Major Wolfgang Hochstetter in Hogan's Heroes (1965).
- #020
In this miniseries, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill were played by Ralph Bellamy and Robert Hardy respectively. Both actors had played these roles in films before. Bellamy appeared in The Winds of War (1983) and Sunrise at Campobello (1960). Hardy played Churchill in Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981), The Woman He Loved (1988) and Bomber Harris (1989). In the first of these films, Günter Meisner appeared in the Hitler role he had also played in The Winds of War (1983). Hardy also played President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- #021
E. G. Marshall had previously played General Dwight D. Eisenhower in Ike (1986). This was also his second role in a Herman Wouk adaptation; he had earlier played the prosecutor in The Caine Mutiny (1954).
- #022
The "death camp" segment contains several nude "bodies" photographs showing women's breasts. This was the first time nudity was shown on prime-time television.
- #023
When this miniseries aired on the ITV network in the United Kingdom in the late 1980s, some sensational concentration camp scenes were flagged as exceptional. This was to ensure they were transmitted after 9:00 p.m., the "watershed". There is an unwritten rule that potentially "offensive" images are never shown before that hour.
- #024
According to the story, Natalie Jastrow, Pamela Tudsbury, Leslie Slote and Phillip Rule once shared an apartment together in Paris before going their separate ways. Pamela is the only character among the four who has a scene with Phillip Rule. She appears with Leslie in only one scene and has no scenes with Natalie.
- #025
FDR's doctor held the rank of vice admiral. Ross McIntire, USN, was the Surgeon General, but he did not reach that rank until 1944.
- #026
Günther Maria Halmer had previously played Rudolf Hoess in Sophie's Choice (1982).
- #027
The story of Germany's attempted coup against Hitler is also told in Stauffenberg (2004) and Valkyrie (2008). In the latter film, Tom Cruise plays Stauffenberg, the role played by Sky du Mont in this series. Cruise and Du Mont appeared together in Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Both films featured the son of an actor who appears in this series. Robert Stephens, who plays Karl Rahm in this series, was the father of Chris Larkin, who appears in Valkyrie (2008). Hardy Krüger's son, Hardy Krüger Jr., appeared in Stauffenberg (2004).
- #028
This was John Dehner's (Admiral Ernest King) last miniseries role.
- #029
Jane Seymour and Hart Bochner had previously played mother and son in East of Eden (1981). In The Winds of War (1983), Natalie tells Byron that he reminds her of his mother.
- #030
Jane Seymour took over the role of Natalie from Ali MacGraw. Both were linked by marriage to a star of The Great Escape (1963). MacGraw was married to Steve McQueen, and Seymour was married to Michael Attenborough, son of Sir Richard Attenborough.
- #031
This was Harold Kasket's (Dr. Paul Eppstein) last television project.
- #032
On a British chat show, Brian Blessed said he was initially offered one of the Auschwitz roles, possibly the role played by John Rhys-Davies. He turned the offer down, however, because he thought it would be too depressing.
- #033
Geoffrey Beevers was cut from this miniseries.
- #034
The cast includes one Oscar winner, John Gielgud, and five Oscar nominees: Robert Mitchum, Topol, Ralph Bellamy, Sharon Stone and Nina Foch.
- #035
The following year, Pat Hingle appeared as Commissioner Gordon in Batman (1989). In The Dark Knight (2008), the role was played by Gary Oldman, who has portrayed two of the political leaders depicted here: Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour (2017) and Harry S. Truman in Oppenheimer (2023).
- #036
Hardy Krüger and Wolf Kahler had previously worked together on Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. Krüger's role of Erwin Rommel had earlier been played by James Mason, who had worked with Kubrick on Lolita. Mason also worked with John Gielgud on Julius Caesar, which was produced by John Houseman.
- #037
The role of Werner Beck was offered to Ronald Lacey.
- #038
Two actors from this series played Brad Majors in The Rocky Horror (Picture) Show. Christopher Malcolm created the role on stage, while Barry Bostwick took the role in the film. Both characters interact with Byron Henry (Hart Bochner).
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