There are different versions of how James M. Cain came up with the novel's title. He claimed it was inspired by writer Vincent Lawrence. When the manuscript was being rejected by publishers, Lawrence told him how he had mailed out his first play and sat by the window waiting for a letter accepting it until he realized that the postman always rang twice. Cain biographer Roy Hoopes supports this story and also mentioned that the title reflects an old English or Irish folk saying about postmen.

Others have suggested the title of Cain's novel was inspired by the notorious Ruth Snyder case of the '20s, which may have inspired the author's plot as well. Snyder convinced her lover, Judd Gray, that her husband was physically abusive, thereby getting Gray to kill the man. She had also secretly taken out a life insurance policy on her husband, but had instructed the postman to ring twice when delivering the payment notices.

The working title of The Postman Always Rings Twice was Bar-B-Q.

The Postman Always Rings Twice made $3,875,000 at the box office,

When MGM publicity released photos of Lana Turner and John Garfield's love scene on the beach, they got complaints from the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America about the film's sexual tone.

Early Oscar® predictions for 1946 indicated that John Garfield would be a shoo-in for an Academy Award nomination for his performance in The Postman Always Rings Twice. The film's May release date may have worked against him however. By the time ballots went out for nominations in the late Fall, his performance had been forgotten, despite the movie's box office success.

Natural blonde Audrey Totter (who was of Austrian and Swedish descent) had to darken her hair for her small role in the film to avoid any confusion with leading lady Lana Turner.

To offset any bad publicity over the sexual nature of her role, MGM's publicity department arranged to have Turner photographed on the set with her two-year-old daughter Cheryl Crane and even had her take the child to the picture's New York City premiere.

At the wrap party for The Postman Always Rings Twice, Turner gave director Tay Garnett a fur-lined jock strap as a thank you for making the sex-charged film in such a tasteful manner. In presenting it, she said, "Don't let anyone say you don't go first class" (from Light Your Torches and Pull Up Your Tights by Tay Garnett).

Despite winning the approval of the Production Code Administration, The Postman Always Rings Twice was banned in Indonesia, Switzerland and Spain.

"It was a real chore to do Postman under the Hays Office, but I think I managed to get the sex across."
- Tay Garnett

MGM sold the film with the tagline "Their Love Was a Flame That Destroyed!"

Memorable Quotes from THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE

"It was on a side road outside of Los Angeles. I was hitchhiking from San Francisco down to San Diego. I guess. A half hour earlier, I'd thumbed a ride." -- John Garfield, as Frank Chambers, delivering the film's opening narration.

"Well, I've never liked any job I've ever had. Maybe the next one is the one I've always been looking for."
"Not worried about your future?"
"Oh, I've got plenty of time for that. Besides, maybe my future starts right now." -- Garfield, as Frank Chambers, confessing his rootlessness to Leon Ames, as District Attorney Kyle Sackett.

"My feet. They keep itchin' for me to go places." -- Garfield, as Frank, delivering a recurring description of himself.

"You dropped this?" -- Garfield, meeting Lana Turner, as Cora Smith, for the first time and picking up her lipstick.

"I could sell anything to anybody."
"That's what you think." -- Garfield, trying to impress Turner, as Cora Smith.

"Stealing a man's wife, that's nothing. But stealing his car, that's larceny." -- Garfield, explaining why he and Turner, as Cora, have to run off together on foot.

"I want to be somebody. And if I walk out like this, I'll lose everything, and I'll never be anybody. Oh, I love you, Frank, and I want you, but not this way. Not starting out like a couple of tramps. I'm going back." -- Turner, deciding to return to Cecil Kellaway, as Nick Smith.

"Do you love me so much that nothing else matters?"
"Yes."
"There's, there's one thing we could do that would fix everything for us." -- Turner, first bringing up murder as a solution to her and Garfield's problems.

"But they'd hang you for a thing like that."
"Oh, not if we did it right, and you're smart, Frank. You'll think of a way. Plenty of men have." -- Garfield and Turner, debating the wisdom of murder.

"Now we can just breathe again for a minute."
"Just think. A week. A whole week to work things out."
"Will you give me a big kiss before I sock you." -- Garfield and Turner discovering that Kellaway, as Nick Smith, will be in the hospital a week after their failed murder attempt.

"It's you or her. If you didn't have anything to do with killing Nick Smith, you'd better sign this because if you don't, I'll know and so will the judge. And so will the jury. And so will that guy that gives you the business in the poison gas chamber in San Quentin. And so will the boys who bury you out there alongside all the others who were too dumb to make a deal while they still had a chance to save their necks." -- Ames, as Kyle Sackett, trying to get Garfield to testify against Turner.

"If the insurance company with the smartest detectives in the world couldn't find any evidence of murder, then it's a cinch that the DA couldn't." -- Hume Cronyn, as Arthur Keats, explaining his courtroom victory.

"I'm gonna frame it and hang it right over my desk." -- Cronyn, as Arthur Keats, on the $100 bet he won against Ames, as Sackett, for winning the case.

"Cora, Cora, look. Maybe, maybe you could sell the place and we can go away somewhere and start fresh, where nobody knows us."
"Oh, no! You've been trying to make a tramp out of me ever since you've known me. But you're not going to do it. I stay here." -- Garfield, still trying to get Turner to run off with him.

"I can only think of fifteen or twenty reasons why you two should never be happy." -- Cronyn, as Keats, congratulating Garfield and Turner on their marriage.

"I'm going to wait standing up. It's a hot day and that's a leather seat. And I've got on a thin skirt." -- Audrey Totter, as Madge Gorland, resisting or coming on to Garfield, after he offers to help her with her car trouble.

"I'll bet you got a little gypsy in you."
"They say I was born with rings in my ears." -- Garfield, flirting with Totter, as Madge Gorland.

"We, we took a life, didn't we, Frank? Well now, don't you see, we can give one back. And then maybe God will forgive us and maybe it will help square us." -- Turner, announcing she's pregnant.

"All the hate and revenge has left me, but is it all out of you?"
"I've been tryin' to find some way to prove it to ya."
"Maybe I know a way. Let's swim out there, way, way out. Until we're so tired we'll just barely be able to get back." -- Turner, trying to make things better with Garfield.

"When we get home, Frank, then there'll be kisses, kisses with dreams in them. Kisses that come from life, not death." -- Turner, dreaming of her new life with Garfield.

"You know, there's something about this which is like, well, it's like you're expectin' a letter that you're just crazy to get, and you hang around the front door for fear you might not hear him ring. You never realize that he always rings twice...The truth is, you always hear him ring the second time, even if you're way out in the back yard." -- Garfield, explaining the title.

"Father, would you send up a prayer for me and Cora and, if you can find it in your heart, make it that we're together, wherever it is?" -- Garfield's last words.

Compiled by Frank Miller