National Film Preservation Board: National Film Registry
Online Film & Television Association: Motion Picture Hall of Fame
Photoplay Award: Katharine Hepburn- Best Performances of the Month (May)
Photoplay Award: Cary Grant- Best Performances of the Month (May)
Photoplay Award: Best Pictures of the Month (May)

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David: Now it isn’t that I don’t like you, Susan, because, after all, in moments of quiet, I’m strangely drawn toward you, but – well, there haven’t been any quiet moments.

David: You don’t understand: this is my car!
Susan: You mean this is your car? Your golf ball? Your car? Is there anything in the world that doesn’t belong to you?
David: Yes, thank heaven, YOU!

David: Susan, you have to get out of this apartment!
Susan: I can’t, I have a lease.

David: Now don’t lose your head, Susan.
Susan: My what?
David: Don’t lose your head!
Susan: I’ve got my head, I’ve lost my leopard!

David: My bone. It’s rare. It’s precious. What did you do with it?
Susan: The bone!
David: Susan, you had it. Give it to me.
Susan: No, I haven’t got it.
David: Did you carry it somewhere?
Susan: No, David. Why would I carry a bone around?
David: I wouldn’t dare give a reason for anything you do.
Susan: Well, I guess you’ll have to find another one.
David: It took three expeditions and five years to find that one!
Susan: David, now that they know where to find one, couldn’t you send them back to get another one?

Susan: Oh, David, can you ever forgive me?
David: I… I… I…
Susan: You can! And you still love me.
David: Susan, that… that…
Susan: You do. Oh, David.
David: Oh, dear. Oh, my.

• Throughout filming, RKO executives complained that the film was destined for commercial failure. They asked Howard Hawks to insert more romance and less slapstick, and to take away Cary Grant’s glasses, but he ignored them.
• Katharine Hepburn had never done any comedy before, and was coached by Howard Hawks and several veteran vaudevillians he employed solely for that purpose. As a former vaudevillian, Cary Grant was already well-versed in comedy.
• The scene in which Susan’s dress is ripped was inspired by an incident involving Cary Grant. He was at the Roxy Theater one night, and his pants zipper was down when it caught on the back of a woman’s dress. Grant impulsively followed her. When he told this story to Howard Hawks, Hawks loved it and put it into the film.
• Christopher Reeve based his performance as Clark Kent in Superman (1978) and its three sequels on Cary Grant’s character David Huxley from this film.
• Katharine Hepburn was generally fearless around the young leopard ‘Nissa (II)’ who played “Baby” and even enjoyed petting it. Cary Grant was less fond of the big cat, and a double was used in the scenes where his character and the leopard had to make contact.
• There is no musical score for the film, except for the opening and closing titles.
• Though Katharine Hepburn never received royalties as an actress in the film, because she was a part investor, the film did provide a financial return for her (and still does for her estate).
• Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant frequently socialized off the set, double-dating with their respective steadies at the time, Howard Hughes and Phyllis Brooks. They loved working on the film so much that they frequently arrived early. Since Howard Hawks was usually late, they spent their time working out new bits of comic business.
• The second of four movies pairing Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn.
• Howard Hawks said that he failed at making a good comedy here because all the characters were too “madcap”, with no straight men/women to ground it. This comment may have resulted from his disappointment at the film’s commercial failure at the time of its release. Many now consider it Hawks’ best film.
• The museum scenes were shot at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History.
• In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked the film at number 88 on “The Greatest Movies of All Time”.
• Cary Grant tells Mister Peabody that “I will be with you in a minute” seven times.
• Included among the “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die”, edited by Steven Schneider.