During production, Nick Nolte was at times so intoxicated, that Katharine Hepburn accused him of "falling down drunk in every gutter in town".
The original ending had Seymour Flint drowning in an attempt to save Grace's life when she walks into the ocean. After a negative reaction from a preview audience, the ending was changed to a happier one.
'The Film Experience' website states that "during the filming of 'Grace Quigley', Kate [Katharine Hepburn] crashed her car into a tree. She fractured her ankle, and was effectively hobbled for a few months".
First film in around three years of veteran actress Katharine Hepburn, whose last picture had been On Golden Pond (1981), for which she had won the Best Actress Academy Award, the gold statuette having being her fourth and final Oscar win.