The real-life person on whom the character of Sheridan Whiteside was based, Alexander Woollcott, actually played the role himself in a touring company of the play in 1940.

Harpo Marx was the model for the character of Banjo.

Harpo Marx played the role of Banjo himself in a 1941 stage production at the Bucks County Playhouse in Pennsylvania.

The character of Beverly Carlton was based on Noel Coward.

Among the actors considered to play the role of Sheridan Whiteside in the film were John Barrymore, Orson Welles, Charles Laughton, Fredric March, Robert Benchley and Cary Grant.

Rosalind Russell, Myrna Loy, Jean Arthur and Olivia de Havilland were considered to play the role of Maggie.

At one time Howard Hawks was interested in directing The Man Who Came to Dinner.

The play The Man Who Came to Dinner was considered to be the last great collaboration between the team of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.

The star of The Man Who Came to Dinner, Monty Woolley, was once a drama teacher at Yale University.

Bette Davis desperately wanted John Barrymore to play Sheridan Whiteside, but Barrymore's drinking problem prevented him from being able to handle the film's complicated dialogue.

Monty Woolley almost didn't get to play Sheridan Whiteside in the film, even though he had originated the role on Broadway. Producers didn't feel he was well-known enough to star in a film.

A dog bite to the nose kept Bette Davis from being able to film scenes in The Man Who Came to Dinner for several weeks.

The character of Lorraine was reportedly based on actress Gertrude Lawrence.

Mary Wickes, who plays Miss Preen, and Ruth Vivian, who plays the batty Harriet, were the only two people besides Monty Woolley who reprised their original Broadway roles in the film. The film marked Wickes' film debut.

In the film Jimmy Durante's character Banjo refers to Ann Sheridan's character Lorraine as "The Oomph Girl," which was Sheridan's real-life nickname. In the original play, Banjo calls Lorraine "Old Hot-pants."

Ann Sheridan was shooting another picture, Kings Row (1942), at the same time she was working on The Man Who Came to Dinner.

Mary Astor was tested for the role of Lorraine.

Danny Kaye tested for the role of Banjo.

Famous Quotes from THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER

MAGGIE (Bette Davis): Sherry, the next time you do NOT want to see anybody, just let me know, and I'll usher them right in.

SHERIDAN WHITESIDE (Monty Woolley): Banjo, my lad, you're wonderful. I may write a book about you.
BANJO (Jimmy Durante): Don't bother, I can't read!

BEVERLY CARLTON (Reginald Gardiner): I have very little time, and so the conversation will be entirely about me and I shall love it.

SHERIDAN: And now, will you all now leave quietly, or must I ask Miss Cutler to pass among you with a baseball bat?

SHERIDAN: My great aunt Jennifer ate a whole box of candy every day of her life. She lived to be 102, and when she had been dead three days, she looked better than you do now.

MISS PREEN (Mary Wickes): I am not only walking out on this case, Mr. Whiteside, I am leaving the nursing profession. I became a nurse because all my life, ever since I was a little girl, I was filled with the idea of serving a suffering humanity. After one month with you, Mr. Whiteside, I am going to work in a munitions factory. From now on, anything I can do to help exterminate the human race will fill me with the greatest of pleasure. If Florence Nightingale had ever nursed YOU, Mr. Whiteside, she would have married Jack the Ripper instead of founding the Red Cross!

MAGGIE: You know, Sheridan, you have one great advantage over everyone else in the world. You've never had to meet Sheridan Whiteside.

SHERIDAN: (referring to Harriet) Strange? She's right out of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

SHERIDAN: (to Miss Preen) Go in and read the life of Florence Nightingale and learn how unfitted you are for your chosen profession.

SHERIDAN: Will you take your clammy hand off my chair? You have the touch of a love-starved cobra.

SHERIDAN: This ageing debutante, Mr. Jefferson, I retain in my employ only because she is the sole support of her two-headed brother!

SHERIDAN: I simply will not sit down to dinner with midwestern barbarians, I think too highly of my digestive system.
MAGGIE: Harry Clarke is one of your oldest friends.
SHERIDAN: My stomach is an older one.
MAGGIE: And Mrs. Stanley is president of the women's club.
SHERIDAN: I wouldn't care if she was the whole cabinet.

SHERIDAN: Is there a man in the world who suffers as I do from the gross inadequacies of the human race?

BERT JEFFERSON (Richard Travis): How do you think Ohio women stack up?
SHERIDAN: I've never gone in for stacking women up so I really can't say.

BANJO: (to Miss Preen) I can feel the hot blood pounding through your varicose veins.

BANJO: (to Miss Preen) Come to my room in a half hour and bring some rye bread.

MISS PREEN: Mr. Whiteside, I can only be in one place at a time.
SHERIDAN: That's very fortunate for this community.

SHERIDAN: (to Banjo) How long can you stay?
BANJO: Just long enough to take a bath.

BEVERLY CARLTON: How can one man possibly be as clever as I am?

Compiled by Andrea Passafiume