"Screen Director's Playhouse" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on April 17, 1949 with Dana Andrews reprising his film role.
"The Hedda Hopper Show - This Is Hollywood" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on March 15, 1947 with Dana Andrews and Harold Russell reprising their film roles.
"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on May 19, 1947 with Dana Andrews, Virginia Mayo and Cathy O'Donnell reprising their film roles.
"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on November 24, 1947 with Fredric March, Myrna Loy and Teresa Wright reprising their film roles.
Harold Russell was first discovered by William Wyler when he saw an army training film called "Diary of a Sergeant" that Russell had appeared in about the rehabilitation of wounded servicemen.
Harold Russell's character was originally written as a war veteran suffering from combat trauma. This was changed to a physical disability when Russell joined the cast.
William Wyler pattered the fictional Boone City after Cincinnati, Ohio.
William Wyler wanted a completely unglamorous look, requiring all costumes to be bought off the rack and worn by the cast before filming, and making sure all sets were built smaller than life-size.
William Wyler, who served as a major in the Army Air Force during World War II, incorporated his own wartime experiences into The Best Years of Our Lives. Just as Fred Derry did in the movie, Wyler flew in B-17s in combat over Germany, although rather than being a bombardier, as Derry was, he filmed footage for documentary films. Additionally, Wyler modeled the reunion of Al and Milly, in which they first see each other at opposite ends of a long hallway, on his own homecoming to his wife, Talli.
William Wyler's first post-war movie.
Myrna Loy receives top billing as she was the most successful female star at the time.
According to his biographer A. Scott Berg, Samuel Goldwyn re-released The Best Years of Our Lives in a modified format to play on wide screens. It opened with all the hoopla of a new picture, including a gala premiere in Washington D.C. on February 3, 1954, with Sherman Adams, five Supreme Court justices, two cabinet members, and twenty-four senators in attendance. There was a quarter-million-dollar campaign advertising it as "The Most Honored Picture of All Time". The film grossed another $1 million.
Came sixth in the UK's Ultimate Film, in which films were placed in order of how many seats they sold at cinemas
Director William Wyler was furious when he learned that Samuel Goldwyn had sent Harold Russell for acting lessons; he preferred Russell's untrained, natural acting.
During the wedding scene at the end, Harold Russell fluffed his lines during his vows. Rather that calling cut and ordering a re-take, William Wyler liked how natural it sounded and this was the take used.
For his performance as Homer Parrish, Harold Russell became the only actor to win two Academy Awards for the same role.
In 1946 this became the most successful film at the box office since Gone with the Wind which was released 7 years earlier.
In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #37 Greatest Movie of All Time.