Lucie Arnaz accepted the role of Elizabeth Short over the strong objections of her mother Lucille Ball.
In this movie, a grandfather and grandson find the body of Elizabeth Short; in real life it was a mother and daughter. Also, a male photographer takes the first photo of Short's body; the photographer was a woman in real life.
Donna Mills plays an aspiring actress named Susan Winters, who is based on Ann Toth (although Toth was more friendly with Short)... Peter Jason plays club owner Miles Harmonder, based on Mark Hanson (who was Jason's polar opposite: overweight and unattractive)... Brooke Adams plays Diane Fowler, a young sympathetic theater worker who takes Elizabeth Short to her mother's home in San Diego (only here it's Santa Barbara), and is based on Dorothy French; Linden Chiles plays Dr. Wallace Coppin, based on Red Manly, who was a salesman, not a doctor (which was possibly added to make him look like a suspect given how Short was killed, as if done by a surgeon)...
Lucie Arnaz's debut.
The same year, 1975, character-actors Sig Haig (the tattoo artist) and Lee de Broux (the casting agent) played criminal partners in the theatrical Pam Grier blaxploitation film, Coffy.