The event was one of the last public appearances of Ginger Rogers, who died from a heart attack 2 months later.
The Inaugural Screen Actors Guild Awards were broadcast live on NBC from Stage 22, Universal Studios, which is a film sound stage not customarily used for live television. The show carried a dedication on its final credit: "Dedicated to Mark Locher." Locher was SAG's communications chief, who played an instrumental role in launching the awards show, but who died of AIDS complications at age 38, prior to the first broadcast.