Trivia / The Bride and the Beast

• Creator Backlash: In an interview with film historian Tom Weaver, Charlotte Austin made clear that she has few fond memories of The Bride and the Beast. She felt that "the premise was so awful" from reading the script, but didn't think she could turn it down as she hadn't made a film in awhile and needed the money. The filming of the movie was chaotic and rushed, with many of the "Africa" scenes filmed in uncomfortably freezing winter weather, while Austin and her costars received little direction from Adrian Weiss - and what direction they did receive was often resented. In particular, Austin recalled Weiss pressing her to film a near-nude scene with Spanky the Gorilla that wasn't in the script, an experience she called "disgusting."^note Although the scene - a more risque version of Spanky's encounter with Laura in the bedroom - wasn't used in the finished film, stills were used in the trailer and featured heavily in promotional material. Frustrated that she wasn't getting better parts than this and Frankenstein 1970 (released the same year), Austin soon quit acting altogether and became a successful antiques dealer.
• Follow the Leader: The movie was very loosely based on Bridey Murphy's claims of discovering her past life through hypnotic regression, a concept which inspired a long list of B Movies in the late '50s (including a direct adaptation of her story, The Search for Bridey Murphy, two years earlier). Of course, Murphy never claimed to have been a gorilla in a past life.
• Romance on the Set: Charlotte Austin and Lance Fuller briefly became a couple after filming wrapped, and remained friends afterwards.