- In 1950, Harry Cohn, president of Columbia Pictures, paid Kanin the then-record sum of $1,000,000 for the movie rights to Garson's Broadway comedy "Born Yesterday.".
- Wrote a book about his friendship with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn ("Tracy and Hepburn: An Intimate Memoir", 1971, Plume). Hepburn saw this as a deep betrayal, and didn't speak with Kanin for many years.
- Kanin spent 5 1/2 years in the Army, after he was drafted. Because there were so few opportunities for directors, he turned to writing. One of his ideas for a film, for Ginger Rogers, eventually evolved into the play, "Born Yesterday".
- There is a 2009 biography of the lives and careers of the Kanin family (Garson, wife Ruth Gordon, brother Michael Kanin and sister-in-law Fay Kanin): "A Family Affair - The Kanins in Hollywood and on Broadway", written by Josh Kanin (his nephew) and Wayne Lindholm.
- His first wife, Ruth Gordon, was sixteen years his senior; his second wife, Marian Seldes, was sixteen years his junior.
- Kanin was interested in a play, about lynching, called "Too Many Heroes" by a young Dore Schary. Samuel Goldwyn's Eastern representative wanted Kanin to travel to California to meet the producer. Kanin agreed because he could not afford a California trip to discuss Schary's play, but Goldwyn's offer made it possible.
- Was nominated for Broadway's Tony Award three times: in 1956, as Best Director for "The Diary of Anne Frank," and in 1961, as Best Director (Musical) and author of the Book for Best Musical nominee "Do Re Mi."
- One of the few artists in the history of Hollywood to move from directing to screenwriting.
- Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 307-308. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
- MGM announced it was going to produce an original Kanin feature comedy called "Roses Are Blue" during its 40th-anniversary celebration. The project, along with numerous others, was quietly shelved in 1965, a casualty of studio cutbacks.
- His play, "Born Yesterday," at the Remy Bumppo Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 2017 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Midsize Play Production.
- 1945 Sidney Howard Memorial Award (shared with Arthur Laurents).
- Younger brother of Michael Kanin.
- Alumnus of the AADA (American Academy of Dramatic Arts), Class of 1933.
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