Greta Garbo requested the stage be lit in red to create a more romantic atmosphere for rehearsals.
Greta Garbo turned down the role not because she refused to share the spotlight, but because she believed that at 27 she was too old to play a prima ballerina.
Greta Garbo wanted John Gilbert to play her lover but his recent lackluster box office record precluded that.
Joan Crawford was irked by Greta Garbo's insistence on top billing and decided to take her revenge. Knowing that Garbo loathed tardiness and Marlene Dietrich in equal measures, Crawford played Dietrich records between shots and made sure to arrive late on set.
Wallace Beery also turned down his part, only to take it again when promised that he would be the only actor to act in the film with a German accent.
Wallace Beery was originally upset at being cast as Preysing, believing that playing an amoral business tycoon would wreck his image, and tried to stage a "walkout" in protest. When he relented, he reportedly decided to steal as much of the show as possible and constantly tried to upstage the other stars in the film.
Buster Keaton proposed a comic version set in a New York flophouse entitled "Grand Mills Hotel" with himself in the Lionel Barrymore role. His proposed casting included Marie Dressler as a ballerina, Jimmy Durante as a Bogus count, Oliver Hardy as the industrialist, Stan Laurel as a collar button manufacturer, Polly Moran as the secretary, and Henry Armetta as a hotel clerk and expectant father. Although Thalberg wanted to make it, the comedian had been fired by Louis B. Mayer and didn't wish to return to the studio.
Irving Thalberg originally wanted his wife Norma Shearer to play the role of Flaemmchen. However, she received a lot of fan mail in which fans discouraged her to take the role, after which she refused the part.
Vicki Baum's original play opened in Berlin in February, 1930.
Adapted from the Broadway play "Grand Hotel" by William A. Drake, as translated from the German play "Menschen im Hotel" by Vicki Baum. The original Broadway production opened Nov. 13, 1930 at the National Theatre in New York and ran for 459 performances. Rafaela Ottiano originated her movie role of Suzette in the play. Other opening night cast members (with their character names) included Albert Dekker (The Baron), Sig Ruman (Preysing), Sam Jaffe (Kringelein), Romaine Callender (Otternschlag) and Walter Baldwin (Desk Clerk).
Author and playwright Vicki Baum based "Menschen im Hotel" both on a true story about a scandal at a hotel involving a stenographer and an industrial magnate, and on her own experiences working as a chambermaid at two well-known Berlin hotels.
Both Greta Garbo and John Barrymore were very wary about working with each other. In actuality they got on quite well, to the extent that she allowed rare backstage photos of them be taken.
Depite them not having any scenes together, Joan Crawford often tried to talk to Greta Garbo, and would say "Hello, Miss Garbo" whenever the two would pass each other in the hall. Garbo never responded, so Crawford gave up and stopped saying anything. This led to Garbo stopping Crawford as she walked silently past her, and asking, "Aren't you going to say something to me?"
During the filming of the busy lobby scenes, the actors wore socks over their shoes to prevent noise. Reportedly two hundred pairs of woolen socks were worn out daily.
Extra scenes with Greta Garbo were added after previews to ensure that Joan Crawford didn't walk off with the picture.
In 1989, a new musical adaptation was produced for Broadway. It opened Nov 12, 1989 at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York and ran for 1,017 performances. Among the replacement cast members during its long run were Cyd Charisse as Grusinskaya (the Greta Garbo role in this film) and John Schneider as Felix Von Gaigern (the John Barrymore role in this film).
MGM bought the film rights for $35,000 and had already made a profit from the material thanks to the Broadway play.
Originally conceived by MGM production chief as one of the first All-Star vehicles. Conventional wisdom of the time was that you put no more than one or two of your biggest stars in a picture so as to lower production cost and to maximize profits. Grand Hotel featured 5 of MGM's top tiered stars and was one of the highest grossing pictures in studio history.
The ensemble cast never actually all appeared together.