The Swimmer

Ned Merrill

Shirley Abbott

Donald Westerhazy

Peggy Forsburgh

Mrs. Halloran

Howie Hunsacker

Ticket Seller (as John Garfield Jr.)

Betty Graham

Sylvia Finney

Howard Graham

Mr. Halloran

Jack Finney

Kevin Gilmartin

Stu Forsburgh

Lillian Hunsacker

Cynthia

Vernon

Joan

Mrs. Hammar

Henry Biswanger

Grace Biswanger

Helen Westerhazy

Biswangers' Pool Party Guest (uncredited)

Muffie (uncredited)

Man at pool party (uncredited)

Matron at the Biswangers' Pool (uncredited)

Denny (uncredited)

Bunkers' Pool Party Guest (uncredited)

Enid Bunker (uncredited)

Bunkers' Pool Party Guest (uncredited)

Lifeguard (uncredited)

William Holden was the first choice for the lead role of the swimmer Ned Merrill for both producer Sam Spiegel and director Frank Perry but Holden turned it down as did Glenn Ford and Paul Newman before Burt Lancaster, who was eager to play the role, was ultimately cast.

The opening paragraph of John Cheever's source "The Swimmer" short story reads: "It was one of those midsummer Sundays when everyone sits around saying, 'I drank too much last night.' You might have heard it whispered by the parishioners leaving church, heard it from the lips of the priest himself, struggling with his cassock in the vestiarium, heard it from the golf links and the tennis courts, heard it from the wildlife preserve where the leader of the Audubon group was suffering from a terrible hangover. 'I drank too much,' said Donald Westerhazy. 'We all drank too much,' said Lucinda Merrill. 'It must have been the wine,' said Helen Westerhazy. 'I drank too much of that claret'."

The source short story by John Cheever that has a length of just a dozen pages was written from a manuscript of notes that totaled 150 pages.

At the Binswangers, when he is pushed, Ned's positioning in the close-up does not match the other shots.

At the pool scene with Lancaster and Janice Rule, a camera shot shows a palm tree in the backyard. Palm trees can't survive in the climate of Connecticut, where the film allegedly was filmed in its entirety. Perhaps when the scene was re-shot with Rule replacing Loden, location shooting had already wrapped.

Shadow of light-rig clearly visible at the first pool party.

Ned Merrill: 'Member how we used to take off our suits and swim for miles up that river? We just never got tired.

Ned Merrill: You're the captain of your soul. That's what counts. Know what I mean?

Ned Merrill: We're all gonna die, Shirley. That doesn't make much sense, does it?