In her autobiography, Shelley Winters described producer and director George Stevens' way of working: "He would discuss the scene, but not the lines, and would photograph the second or third rehearsal so the scene had an almost improvisatory quality. Stevens would print the first take, then spend the next three hours minutely rehearsing the scene, then film it again. He explained to me that in this way he often got actors' unplanned reactions that were spontaneous and human and often exactly right. And often when actors overintellectualize or plan their reactions, they aren't as good."
The box-office failure of An American Tragedy (1931) prompted the filmmakers to seek an alternative title. One such title was "The Prize". There was a $100 reward for whoever came up with the best new title. Producer and director George Stevens' associate Ivan Moffat successfully pitched "A Place in the Sun", though he never received the $100.
Shelley Winters developed mixed feelings toward the producer and director George Stevens for making her look so non-glamorous alongside Elizabeth Taylor. Her role, moreover, typecast her in mousy or brassy parts for years. Winters said she drove white Cadillac convertibles (similar to Taylor's in this movie) for years afterward to compensate for her intense feelings of inferiority while making this movie.
The novel contains a scene in which Alice Tripp goes to a country doctor and tentatively asks about an abortion. Shelley Winters relates in her autobiography that George Stevens initially planned to drop the scene because "it's rather censorable, but I think if we handle it delicately, it will illuminate the factory girl's terrible plight." Winters was given the new script pages one morning and asked to memorize the lines; Stevens planned to rehearse once, then immediately film the scene for spontaneity. "When he called, 'Action!' I was already crying," Winters wrote. "I twisted my white handkerchief into a shredded ball. The scene was nine minutes long. A full camera load. Boy, did I ever act!" Stevens had Winters do the scene again after letting her realize that tears would only frighten the doctor, and that Alice must try and refrain from crying. "Of course, when we saw the two takes the next day, the one in which I followed his exact direction was remarkable, even if I say so myself. Every time I've seen that scene in a theater, every man in the audience groans and every woman weeps. George had taught me another life-long acting lesson: don't indulge yourself. Make the audience weep."