- Hecht was one of four people sent to the Soviet Union by President Eisenhower in 1959, as part of a cultural exchange program.
- Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 378-380. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.
- Married Gloria Buzzell in 1947, divorced 1960. Children are Steven Hecht b. 1948, Duffy Hecht b. 1950, Alma Hecht b. 1955. Married English model-actress Martine Millner on November 2, 1962. She was age 26 he was age 55. Divorced 1974. Children are Harold Hecht, Jr. b. 1963, Adam Hecht b. 1965 and Rebecca Hecht b. 1970.
- At the time of his death, he was working on a sequel to 'The Crimson Pirate', entitled 'Jolly Roger'. He was also working on a sequel to 'Cat Ballou' about Kid Shelleen.
- Aged 16, he became stage assistant to Richard Boleslawski at the American Laboratory Theatre. He subsequently worked as a dancer with the Martha Graham Company, then signed as dance director for Busby Berkeley. He choreographed dance routines at RKO, Paramount, MGM and Universal.
- Stories are told that when the unknown Burt Lancaster agreed to come to Hollywood as Hecht's client, Hecht boldly said, "Come with me and within five years, we'll be making our own pictures." The actual timeline was 19 months.
Hecht's Oscar speech was memorable: "It's very fortunate to live in a country where any man, no matter how humble his origins, can become president, and to be part of an industry where any picture, no matter how low its budget, can win an Oscar. All of us who worked on "Marty" are especially fortunate for this great honor, for to us, from the very beginning, it was a labor of love. Thank you".
As a Hecht-Lancaster Productions project, "Cat Ballou" was originally to be a comedy-musical Western film starring Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis as rival brothers.
Hecht refused to start shooting "Cat Ballou" until the screenplay was right. It went through a series of writers from its inception in 1956, starting with Roy Chanselor who adapted his own novel, then William Bowers, William Ludwig, Burt Kennedy, Walter Newman, Mitchell Lindemann, Frank Pierson, and finally Walter Bernstein, who agreed in writing "to write a script to Hecht's satisfaction." That clause caused him to labor for two years until Hecht said okay, that's it. Bernstein said he would never agree to such a deal again. - After shooting wrapped on "Separate Tables" star Rita Hayworth married producer James Hill, 1958.
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