Trivia for
Mildred Pierce (1945) More at IMDbPro »

• Bette Davis and Rosalind Russell turned down the title role, and Barbara Stanwyck was very keen to take it, but Joan Crawford got in first and it earned her an Academy Award.
  
  
• Joan Crawford had been under contract with Warner Brothers for two years before starring in this movie. To get the role, she had to submit to a screen test after years of flops at MGM - her previous studio - and turning down several scripts at Warner Brothers.
  
  
• Shirley Temple was originally considered for the part of Veda Pierce.
  
  
• Shooting the early scenes, director Michael Curtiz accused Joan Crawford of needlessly glamorizing her working mother role. She insisted she was buying her character's clothes off the rack, but didn't mention that her own dressmaker was fitting the waists and padding out the shoulders.
  
  
• William Faulkner contributed to the script, but his additions were not used. He wrote a scene that had Butterfly McQueen consoling Joan Crawford while singing a gospel song.
  
  
• Monty's Beach House, used in the key opening scene and several others, was actually owned by the film's director, Michael Curtiz. It was built in 1929 and stood at 26652 Latigo Shore Dr. in Malibu. It collapsed into the ocean after a week of heavy storms in January 1983.
  
  
• Michael Curtiz was initially less than keen at working with "has-been" star Joan Crawford as she had a reputation for being difficult. Curtiz was soon won over by Crawford's dedication and hard work.
  
  
• Ann Sheridan was considered for the lead.
  
  
• Mirroring her own life, Joan Crawford had also supported herself as a waitress and saleswoman before she achieved success as an actress.
  
  
• Producer Jerry Wald was keen to exploit the potential of James M. Cain's novel. He envisaged the idea of a climactic murder, then restructuring the story using flashbacks. He also infused the project with a higher moral tone that is in the original novel. With these changes, he was able to extract a cautious go-ahead from the Breen Office, which then prompted studio head Jack L. Warner to approve the purchase rights to the novel in early 1944.
  
  
• Eight different screenplays from a succession of writers were written before Ranald MacDougall's version was accepted.
  
  
• The film's release was deliberately held back until September 1945 in the hopes that it would find a more sympathetic audience in a post-war atmosphere.
  
  
• Jack L. Warner originally wanted Vincent Sherman to direct the film but Jerry Wald held out for Michael Curtiz.
  
  
• During Monty's seduction of Mildred in front of the fire a record is playing. If you listen, it is the theme from Now, Voyager (1942), a hit Warner Bros. film from 1942 starring Bette Davis.
  
  
• Shot on stage 14 at Warner Brothers.
  
  

Related Links