Originally, Frank Capra planned to use the screen treatment's original title, "The Life and Death of John Doe." After shortening it to "The Life of John Doe," he settled on Meet John Doe after being warned that the other titles made the film sound like a biography.

The tune Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan play on their harmonica and ocarina, respectively, is "Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (An Actor's Life for Me)" from Pinocchio (1940).

Capra needed 1,500 extras to shoot the convention scene in Meet John Doe, with most of the work done at night. The extras got $5.50 and a box lunch for each night's work.

While shooting Meet John Doe, Barbara Stanwyck had to cope with a request for a divorce when her husband, Robert Taylor, fell in love with Lana Turner while shooting Johnny Eager (1941). When Turner informed her co-star she was not interested in a long-term relationship, the couple patched things up.

Meet John Doe was one of the 20 top-grossing films of the 1940-41 season and -- with his other 1941 hit, Sergeant York -- earned Gary Cooper seventh place on the list of top box office stars for the year. This was his first appearance on the list.

Warner Bros.' tagline for the film proclaimed, "ALL AMERICA WANTS TO MEET THE 'MR. DEEDS' OF 1941!"

by Frank Miller

Famous Quotes from MEET JOHN DOE

"Below is a letter which reached my desk this morning. It's a commentary on what we laughingly call a civilized world.
"Dear Miss Mitchell: Four years ago, I was fired out of my job. Since then, I haven't been able to get another one. At first, I was sore at the state administration because it's on account of the slimy politics here we have all this unemployment. But in looking around, it seems the whole world is goin' to pot. So in protest, I'm goin' to commit suicide by jumping off the City Hall roof.
"Signed, a disgusted American citizen. John Doe.
"Editor's Note: If you ask this column, the wrong people are jumping off the roofs." -- The newspaper column by Barbara Stanwyck, as Ann Mitchell, that sets the plot in motion

"If it was raining hundred dollar bills, you'd be out looking for a dime you lost someplace." -- Stanwyck, as Ann Mitchell, complaining that her editor -- James Gleason, as Henry Connell -- doesn't get the potential of her story

"All this John Doe business is batty if you ask me...Trying to improve the world by jumping off buildings. You couldn't improve the world if the buildings jumped on you." -- Walter Brennan, as The Colonel

"You're gonna get used to a lot of stuff that's gonna wreck ya...I've seen guys like you go under before, guys that never had a worry. Then they got ahold of some dough and went goofy. -- Brennan, as The Colonel

"If he made a hit around here, he can do it every place else in the country. And you'd be pulling the strings!" -- Stanwyck, as Ann, convincing Edward Arnold, as D.B. Norton, to keep the story going

"John, when you read that speech, please, please believe every word of it. He turned out to be a wonderful person, John."
"Who?"
"John Doe, the one in the speech."
"Oh."
"You know something. I...I've actually fallen in love with him." -- Stanwyck, handing Gary Cooper, as Long John Willoughby, his radio speech

"To most of you, your neighbor is a stranger, a guy with a barking dog and a fence around him. Now you can't be a stranger to any guy who's on your own team. So tear down the fence that separates you...You'll tear down a lot of hates and prejudices...I know a lot of you are saying to yourself: 'He's asking for a miracle'...Well, you're wrong, it's no miracle...I see it happen once every year...at Christmastime...Why can't that spirit last the whole year round? Gosh, if it ever did -- we'd develop such a strength that no human force could stand against us." -- Cooper, as Long John Willoughby, delivering his big speech on the radio

"It's a shame how little we know about our neighbors...The reason we wanted to tell you this, Mr. Doe, was to give you an idea of what you've started. And from where I'm sitting, I don't see any sense in you jumping off any building....You're a wonderful man, and it strikes me you can be mighty useful walkin' around for a while." -- Regis Toomey, as Bert Hansen, convincing Cooper, as Long John, that he's doing good

"What makes them come and listen and get up their John Doe clubs the way they do?....Maybe they're like me -- just beginning to get an idea of what those things mean. I never thought much about people before. They were always just somebody to fill up the bleachers. The only time I worried about them was if they...when they didn't come in to see me pitch. You know, lately, I been watching 'em when I talk to 'em. I could see something in their faces. I could feel that they were hungry for something, you know what I mean? Maybe that's why they came. Maybe they're just lonely and wanted somebody to say hello to. I know how they feel. I've been lonely and hungry for something practically all my life." -- Cooper, to Stanwyck

"I get mad for a lot of other guys besides myself. I get mad for a guy named Washington, and a guy named Jefferson and Lincoln. Lighthouses, John - lighthouses in a foggy world." -- Gleason, as Henry Connell, cluing Cooper in to the plot to use him

"These are daring times...We are coming to a new order of things. There's too much talk been going on in this country. Too many concessions have been made. What the American people need is an iron hand." -- Arnold, as D.B. Norton, revealing his political ambitions

"I'm going down to that convention, and I'm going to tell those people exactly what you and your fine feathered friends are trying to cook up for them." -- Cooper, standing up to Arnold, as Norton

"May I remind you that I picked you up out of the gutter and I can throw you right back there again?...Get off that righteous horse of yours and come to your senses. You're the fake! We believe in what we're doing. You're the one that was paid the thirty pieces of silver. Have you forgotten that? But I haven't. You're a fake, John Doe, and I can prove it. You're the big hero who's supposed to jump off tall buildings and things. Do you remember? What do you suppose your precious John Does will say when they find out that you never had any intention of doing it, that you were being paid to say so?" -- Arnold, threatening Cooper

"Well, boys, you can chalk up another one to the Pontius Pilates." -- Gleason, as Connell, after Arnold turns the mob against Cooper

"The first John Doe already died to keep the good will movement alive, and He has kept that idea alive for more than two thousand years...It's worth dying for, it's an idea worth living for...This is not time to give it up." -- Stanwyck, trying to keep Cooper from throwing himself off City Hall

"We need you. There were a lot of us who didn't believe what that man said. We were going to start our own John Doe Club again whether we saw you or not...And there were a lot of others going to do the same thing...Only it would be a lot easier with you. Please...please come with us, Mr. Doe." – Ann Doran, pleading her case to Cooper

"There you are, Norton, the people! Try and lick that!" -- Gleason