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James Cagney

James Cagney
Cagney, c. 1930
Born
James Francis Cagney

(1899-07-17)July 17, 1899
New York City, U.S.
DiedMarch 30, 1986(1986-03-30) (aged 86)
Stanford, New York, U.S.
Resting placeGate of Heaven Cemetery
Occupations
  • Actor
  • dancer
Years active1919–1961; 1981, 1984
Political partyDemocratic (1934–1948)
Republican (1948–1986)
Spouse
Frances Willard Vernon
​
​
(m. 1922)​
Children2
RelativesHarry Cagney (brother)
Edward Cagney (brother)
William Cagney (brother)
Jeanne Cagney (sister)
6th President of the Screen Actors Guild
In office
1942–1944
Preceded byEdward Arnold
Succeeded byGeorge Murphy

James Francis Cagney Jr. (/ˈkæɡni/;[1] July 17, 1899 – March 30, 1986)[2] was an American actor and dancer. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances.[3]

Cagney is remembered for playing multifaceted tough guys in films such as The Public Enemy (1931), Taxi! (1932), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), The Roaring Twenties (1939), City for Conquest (1940) and White Heat (1949), finding himself typecast or limited by this reputation earlier in his career.[4] He was able to negotiate dancing opportunities in his films and ended up winning the Academy Award for his role in the musical Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). In 1999 the American Film Institute ranked him eighth on its list of greatest male stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood.[5] Orson Welles described him as "maybe the greatest actor who ever appeared in front of a camera".[6]

In his first professional acting performance in 1919, Cagney was costumed as a woman when he danced in the chorus line of the revue Every Sailor. He spent several years in vaudeville as a dancer and comedian, until he got his first major acting part in 1925. He secured several other roles, receiving good notices, before landing the lead in the 1929 play Penny Arcade. Al Jolson saw him in the play and bought the movie rights, before selling them to Warner Bros. with the proviso that James Cagney and Joan Blondell be able to reprise their stage roles in the movie. After rave reviews, Warner Bros. signed him for an initial $400-a-week, three-week contract; when the executives at the studio saw the first dailies for the film, Cagney's contract was immediately extended.

Cagney's fifth film, The Public Enemy, became one of the most influential gangster movies of the period. Notable for a famous scene in which Cagney pushes half a grapefruit against Mae Clarke's face, the film thrust him into the spotlight. He became one of Hollywood's leading stars and one of Warner Bros.' biggest contracts. In 1938 he received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his subtle portrayal of the tough guy/man-child Rocky Sullivan in Angels with Dirty Faces. In 1942 Cagney won the Oscar for his energetic portrayal of George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy.[7] He was nominated a third time in 1955 for Love Me or Leave Me with Doris Day. Cagney retired from acting and dancing in 1961 to spend time on his farm with his family. He came out of retirement 20 years later for a part in the movie Ragtime (1981), mainly to aid his recovery from a stroke.[8]

Cagney walked out on Warner Bros. several times over the course of his career, each time returning on much improved personal and artistic terms. In 1935 he sued Warner for breach of contract and won. This was one of the first times an actor prevailed over a studio on a contract issue. He worked for the independent film company Grand National (starring in two films: the musical Something to Sing About and the drama Great Guy) for a year while the suit was being settled, then in 1942 establishing his own production company, Cagney Productions, before returning to Warner seven years later. In reference to Cagney's refusal to be pushed around, Jack L. Warner called him "the Professional Againster".[9] Cagney also made numerous USO troop tours before and during World War II and served as president of the Screen Actors Guild for two years.[10]

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011). Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John (eds.). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference auteur14 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Speck, Gregory (June 1986). "From Tough Guy to Dandy: James Cagney". The World and I. Vol. 1. p. 319. Archived from the original on February 22, 2008. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
  4. ^ McGilligan, page 11
  5. ^ "America's Greatest Legends" (PDF). AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars. American Film Institute. 2005. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 20, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  6. ^ "Orson Welles - Interview (1974)". youtube.com. Archived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
  7. ^ "Best Actor". FilmSite.org. Archived from the original on January 28, 2013. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
  8. ^ "James Cagney: Looking Backward". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on September 23, 2017. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
  9. ^ James L. Neibaur, James Cagney Films of the 1930s (London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014), xi. ISBN 1442242205
  10. ^ John McCabe, Cagney (NY: Knopf Doubleday, 2013). ISBN 0307830993; and NJ Senate con. res. 39 (1998), Nicholas J. Sacco, sponsor; searchable at www.njleg.state.nj.us

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