The Best Years of Our Lives/Trivia

• Cast the Expert: Harold Russell, a man who had lost both hands in World War II, was cast as a man who had lost both hands in World War II. He did such a good job he won an Oscar (plus a second honorary Oscar), despite never having acted before.
• Dawson Casting: Dana Andrews was 36 when he made this film, clearly playing someone in his mid-twenties. Also see Playing Gertrude in the main section.
• Disabled Character, Disabled Actor: Harold Russell, a drill sergeant during the war, lost his hands in a training accident involving a defective bomb. He did such a good job in the role of Homer Parrish he won an Oscar (plus a second honorary Oscar), despite never having acted before.
• Reality Subtext: The man Fred punches out at the drugstore is based on a man William Wyler had an argument with when he came home from the war.
• Throw It In: Harold Russell, a real life veteran who never acted before, flubbed his lines during his character's wedding scene. William Wyler left it in, considering it natural.
• What Could Have Been: Homer's disability was originally written as post-traumatic stress disorder, with frequent panic attacks, before William Wyler decided to cast Harold Russell, a real-life veteran who lost both his hands in the war, and the part was rewritten accordingly.