It is directed by Andrew Marton and features Jayne Mansfield, newcomer Trax Colton, Maria Xénia, Nico Minardos, Roger Browne in his debut, and Olympic champion Bob Mathias.

Young shepherd, Spiridon Loues (Colton, in a fictionalized but sometimes accurate portrayal of water-carrier Spyridon Louis), decides to enter the 26-mile marathon.

Once in Athens he meets Christina Gratsos (Kalogeropoulou) a young woman from his hometown who is now the personal maid to Greece's most famous actress, Eleni Costa (Mansfield).

Though Spiridon arrived after the entry date, his persistence and athletic prowess so impress the Olympic officials and Coach Graham (Mathias), that he is admitted to compete in the race.

[10] As a publicity promotion for Colton, Fox cast the unknown actor in the lead and billed him directly below sex goddess Mansfield.

Both Nico Minardos and Bob Mathias were added as supporting characters at the last minute when the appearances of both Lt. Alexi and Coach Graham were lengthened to become more than bit players.

Though thought of as one of Mansfield's latter low-budget films, It Happened in Athens was actually made on a large budget and was produced in CinemaScope and DeLuxe color.

Like several other Fox films during the early 1960s, the feature was made to bring quick profit to the studio, which was going broke due to the rising costs and expanding production schedule of the expensive historical epic Cleopatra.

According to Fox, Mansfield had not worked with them full-time due to her repeated pregnancies and they did not have enough time to promote the severely unknown Colton, who lacked faith in his own, somewhat unwanted, career in the movies.