<Li> Richard Todd, who played Maj . John Howard, leader of the British airborne assault on the Pegasus Bridge, took part in the real bridge assault on D - Day . He was offered the chance to play himself but took the part of Maj . Howard instead . </Li> <Li> Joseph Lowe landed on Omaha Beach and scaled the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc on D - Day . He repeated the climb for the cameras 17 years later as a serving member of the 505th Airborne Battle Group who provided US Army film extras . </Li> <Li> Former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower was considered for the role of himself in the film, and he indicated his willingness . However, it was decided that makeup artists couldn't make him appear young enough to play his World War II self . The role of Gen. Eisenhower went to Henry Grace, a set decorator with no acting experience but who had been in the film industry since the mid-1930s . He was a dead ringer for the younger Eisenhower, though his voice differed . </Li> <Li> The film marked the last film appearance of Sean Connery before he was cast in the role of James Bond . Gert Fröbe (Sgt . Kaffeekanne) and Curd Jürgens (Gen. Günther Blumentritt) would later go on to play Bond villains Auric Goldfinger (Goldfinger (1964)) and Karl Stromberg (The Spy Who Loved Me) respectively . Connery would later play Maj. Gen. Roy Urquhart in the 1977 film A Bridge Too Far, which was also based on a book by Cornelius Ryan . (Likewise Wolfgang Preiss played Maj. Gen. Max Pemsel in The Longest Day and Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt in A Bridge Too Far .) </Li>

Who plays dwight eisenhower in the longest day