Ike: Countdown to D-Day

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Gen. Omar Bradley

Walter Bedell "Beetle" Smith

Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Gen. Bernard Law Montgomery

Air Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory

Air Marshal Arthur W. Tedder

RAdm. Bert Ramsay

Patton

Group Cpt. Major James Stagg (as Christopher Baker)

General Charles DeGaulle

Captain Chapman

Major General Henry Miller

U.S. Colonel at Savoy

Woman at Savoy

King George

Queen Elizabeth

Major Wiatt

WAC Sergeant

Corporal Younger

Chief Whip

101st Lieutenant

101st Sergeant

101st Corporal

101st Private

101st Paratrooper

Projector Sergeant

Tom Selleck, a non-smoker, temporarily took up the habit to play Dwight Eisenhower, who was, according to Selleck in the DVD's bonus feature, a four-pack-a-day smoker at the time. In 1949, Eisenhower was advised by his doctor and friend, Howard Snyder, to cut down on the cigarettes to one pack per day. Eisenhower initially did so, but after a few days, he decided that counting cigarettes was worse than smoking and quit permanently in 1949. He never smoked again.

A written message written by Eisenhower and taking full responsibility by him and to be issued to the media should the D-Day landings fail was found in one of the pockets of his military uniforms years later after D-Day. These details about this message were worked into this tele-movie's script.

D-Day was on the 6th of June 1944. This tele-movie marked the 60th Anniversary of D-Day as it was both filmed and first broadcast in 2004, sixty years after D-Day.

The person forecasting the weather mentioned "the jet stream" as the cause for the rapid moving weather pattern. The jet stream wasn't fully understood until the fall of 1944 and wasn't named until even later.

When the King and Queen are briefed, national flags are hung along the sides of the wall. The Canadian flag is incorrectly the 1957 red ensign with red maple leaves; it should be the 1921 version with green. The same mistake is on the large map of Normandy.

When De Gaulle arrives for the meeting with Eisenhower, the Free France flags on the cars wings are shown flying with the red on the pole side. French flags, including Free France's, are always flown with the blue on the pole side.

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower: Dearest Mamie...

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower: There's only one way to be absolutley certain German spies or simply loose lips don't stumble across our activities and anticipate our moves, and that is to seal the coast across the south of England and Wales to all unauthorized traffic.

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower: I'm not sending a bunch of fresh young kids to die for a people they know nothing about, I'm asking them to die for freedom and they're ready to do it and that's why they're heroes.