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Trivia / Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

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  • Awesome, Dear Boy: Sidney Poitier wasn't happy with his part or the story, but took the film because he couldn't pass up the chance to work with Tracy and Hepburn.
  • California Doubling: The exterior shot for the Drayton household was filmed in Pasadena.
  • Doing It for the Art: The film's studio backers were initially concerned that the terminally ill Spencer Tracy would be unable to make it through the shooting. Kramer and Hepburn put up some of their salaries to back up Tracy's insurance coverage.
  • Reality Subtext: Spencer Tracy's final speech wasn't about Matt and Christina; it was about Tracy's own decades-long love affair with co-star Katharine Hepburn. The tears in Christina's eyes during that scene were in fact Katharine's own at Tracy's declaration of love for her.
  • Real-Life Relative: Katharine Houghton, who plays Joey, was Katharine Hepburn's real-life niece.
  • Real Song Theme Tune: An easy-listening choral rendition of the '30s standard "The Glory of Love".
  • Stunt Double: Veteran stuntman and long time Spencer Tracy stunt double, John "Bear" Hudkins, appears as the disapproving cab driver in the first of the film and does all the location driving. Later on he doubles for Tracy in the car crash scene.
  • Those Two Actors: This was the ninth and final screen pairing of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • Samantha Eggar was considered for Joey.
    • Kramer directed a pilot for a TV sitcom adaptation in 1975, with Leslie Charleson and Bill Overton stepping into Houghton and Poitier's roles, respectively. It was never picked up.

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