Playing Against Type: Ernest Borgnine was best known for playing heavies (his highest-profile role to this point had been the sinister "Fatso" Judson in From Here to Eternity). He was nearly overlooked, and was only cast after Robert Aldrich recommended him to the director. Marty earned him an Oscar for Best Actor and led to him playing warmer and more comedic roles.
Role Reprise: Esther Minciotti (Mrs. Piletti), Augusta Ciolli (Aunt Catherine), and Joe Mantell (Angie) all reprise their roles from the teleplay.
Paddy Chayefsky wrote the original teleplay as a starring vehicle for his friend, actor/director Martin Ritt, even naming the lead character after him. But Ritt had been blacklisted and the network wouldn't allow him to be hired.
Delbert Mann asked both Rod Steiger and Nancy Marchand to reprise their roles from the teleplay. Both turned it down, for different reasons.
Betsy Blair almost wasn't cast due to The Hollywood Blacklist. Gene Kelly, her husband at the time, pressured the studio by threatening not to direct or star in any of their films if she was not hired.
Assorted trivia
In addition to Borgnine's Best Actor Oscar, the film also won Best Picture and earned its director and writer Oscars, as well as the coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. After The Lost Weekend, it became the second film to win the Best Picture Oscar and the Palme d'Or, a feat that would not be repeated until Parasite 64 years later.
It is also the shortest film (and one of the cheapest) to win Best Picture, at just 90 minutes long.
Legend has it that co-producers Harold Hecht and Lancaster decided to make the film and cast Borgnine (a character actor best known for playing heavies) assuming it would flop, and use it as a tax write-off.
The first American film to be screened in the USSR post-World War II.
Some fans have pointed out that Marty and Teresa may not be planning to take communion at Mass because Marty drinks some water and Teresa has a bit of coffee with Catherine, against Eucharistic fasting rules. Actually, drinking water was okayed by The Pope (Pius XII) in '53, two years before the film. Coffee before communion is still controversial!
There's a five-minute scene after Marty and Clara part company where she happily tells her parents what she's been doing all night and what kind of guy Marty is. This scene is frequently cut from televised showings (although not by Turner Classic Movies, of course) and even some DVD releases don't have it. Be sure the version you buy does have it, it's a winner.
