In 1956, Jessamyn West published To See the Dream, her personal account of the making of Friendly Persuasion. The book is dedicated to William Wyler's assistant during filming, Stuart Millar, and the director's brother Robert. The title came from Wyler's daughter, Melanie. West was at Wyler's house to see the rushes when his daughter asked, "Daddy, can I see the dream?" "Seeing the dream" was her way of describing watching the rushes.

As part of publicity for the film, Gary Cooper recorded the song "Marry Me, Marry Me" from the score. It was his only professional recording. At the time, he told the press, "I hope all of this won't ruin my career."

The film's title song, also called "Thee I Love," by Dimitri Tiomkin and Paul Francis Webster, had two hit recordings, one by Pat Boone, who sang it in the movie, and another by The Four Aces. It would also be recorded by Anthony Perkins, Aretha Franklin and Cleo Laine.

William Wyler hired Jessamyn West to work on the script for his next film, The Big Country (1958), another film about a man trying to avoid violence.

Michael Wilson and Wyler would finally work together again, albeit briefly, on The Sandpiper (1965). By that time, Wilson could be credited as screenwriter in pre-production publicity. When production delays forced Wyler to leave the film (he was replaced by Vincente Minnelli), Wilson continued, eventually sharing writing credit with another blacklisted writer, Dalton Trumbo.

In 1969, West wrote Except for Me and Thee: A Companion to the Friendly Persuasion, a sequel to The Friendly Persuasion relating other incidents in the lives of the Birdwells.

In 1975, ABC aired a television movie called Friendly Persuasion, although it was actually based on West's sequel to the original novel. Richard Kiley played Jess Birdwell, with Shirley Knight as Eliza and Michael O'Keefe as Josh.

During a state visit to Moscow in 1988, President Ronald Reagan presented a copy of the tape as a personal gift to Soviet Premiere Mikhail Gorbachev.

by Frank Miller

Sources:
Jessamyn West, To See the Dream
Stuart M. Kaminsky, Coop: The Life and Legend of Gary Cooper