"Peter Thorkelson", a character's name in this film, is the real name of Monkee Peter Tork.
Greta Garbo turned down the role of Martha around the same time she also rejected the lead in Alfred Hitchcock's The Paradine Case. She is reputed to have commented, "No murderesses, no mamas."
Irene Dunne worked with dialect coach Judith Sater for two months to perfect her Norwegian accent. Dunne became so immersed in getting her character's voice down that she used the accent around her home with her family.
Barbara Bel Geddes, Irene Dunne, and Oskar Homolka recreated their roles on the Lux Radio Theatre on August 30, 1948.
Oskar Homolka was the only member of the Broadway cast to reprise his role.
Despite garnering the best reviews of any RKO film released in years, the movie failed to turn a profit due to its high production cost ($3.068 million). It spawned a long-running CBS TV series that ran from 1949-57.
In order to physically submerse herself in the role of Mama, Irene Dunne wore no make up and used body padding to make herself appear heavier.
Paramount Pictures received 25% of the film's distribution gross because in 1947, it had bought Liberty Films, Inc., in which director George Stevens was part owner.
Producer Harriet Parsons initially brought in director George Cukor, hoping he could persuade Greta Garbo to come out of retirement. Marlene Dietrich sought the lead role, but was regarded as not maternal enough. Parsons then tried to cast recent Oscar-winner Katina Paxinou, even considering changing the family's origins to Greek. When RKO took over the project, Irene Dunne was cast, and she recommended George Stevens as director.
The previous play was produced on Broadway by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The film's producers purchased the rights for $2500 for each week of the play's run, up to $150,000, on the condition that the film would not be made until the play closed. The stage version ended up running for nearly two years. The original Broadway production opened on October 19, 1944 at the Music Box Theater and ran for 713 performances with a cast that included Marlon Brando in his Broadway debut.
This was the first film in which ventriloquist Edgar Bergen appeared without his dummy, Charlie McCarthy.
Was the basis for the last musical ("I Remember Mama"- 1979) that Richard Rodgers wrote, starring Liv Ullmann and George Hearn. The original Broadway production opened on May 31, 1979 at the Majestic Theater and ran for 108 performances.