Cat Ballou premiered in Madison, WI on 6 May 1965, before wider release in June.
Screenwriters Walter Newman and Frank Pierson took Roy Chanslor's serious 1956 novel, The Ballad of Cat Ballou, and turned it into a comedy, complete with Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye providing a sort of Greek Chorus throughout (Cole was seriously ill with cancer during filming, and died in February 1965 at the age of 45).
Cat Ballou was a commercial and critical success; it was nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing (Charles Nelson), Best Original Score (Frank de Vol), and Best Song ("The Ballad of Cat Ballou" written by Mack David and Jerry Livingston). Lee Marvin received the Oscar for Best Actor, for his dual roles of Kid Shelleen and Tim Strawn.
