Though Bette Davis won the 1935 Academy Award/Oscar for L'Intruse (1935) beating out Katharine Hepburn in Désirs secrets (1935), Davis was noted for saying more than once that she didn't deserve the award that year and that the one who did was Katharine Hepburn.
There was a disagreement among Katharine Hepburn and George Stevens about the post-party scene. The script called for Hepburn to fall onto the bed and break into sobs, but Stevens wanted her to walk to the window and cry, with the rain falling outside. Hepburn could not produce the tears required, so she asked Stevens if she could do the scene as scripted. Stevens yelled furiously at Hepburn, which did the trick and the scene was filmed Stevens' way, and Hepburn's tears are real.
Katharine Hepburn credits director George Stevens for her change in the public's perception, by helping her, in "Alice Adams", portray more warmth and vulnerability than she had ever shown previously.
RKO executives wanted Randolph Scott for the Fred MacMurray role, but he was involved in the production of Roses de sang (1935).