In her biography Myrna Loy recalled working with her longtime friend Melvyn Douglas on this TV film. "Mel and I have some lovely moments in Death Takes a Holiday. We finished the last of them way up on the hill at Universal, when suddenly we heard a studio tour guide bellowing, 'And this is Rock Hudson's dressing room.' The travelogue persisted throughout our gentle scene. 'O.K.!' Mel roared when we finished. 'I've had it!' He stomped off the set and flew back to New York on the next plane without doing his dubs. Universal had to send someone after him to record them, which delighted me. It is really such an insult to actors to work under those circumstances."