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{{Short description|American actor and dancer (1899–1986)}}{{Use American English|date=October 2011}}{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2011}}

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| birth_name = James Francis Cagney189917}}| birth_place = New York City, U.S.1986307|17}}| death_place = Stanford, New York, U.S.Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Hawthorne, New York)>Gate of Heaven CemeteryActor|dancer}}| years_active = 1919–1961; 1981, 1984Frances Willard Vernon|1922}}| children = 2Democratic Party (United States)>Democratic (1934–1948)Republican (1948–1986)| relatives = Harry Cagney (brother)Edward Cagney (brother) William Cagney (brother)Jeanne Cagney (sister)



factoids



}}James Francis Cagney Jr. ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|æ|É¡|n|i}};EPD, 18, July 17, 1899{{spaced ndash}}March 30, 1986) 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.NEWS, Speck, Gregory, From Tough Guy to Dandy: James Cagney,www.worldandi.com/public/1986/june/ar12.cfm, The World and I, 1, 319, June 1986, October 17, 2008,www.worldandi.com/public/1986/june/ar12.cfm," title="web.archive.org/web/20080222124758www.worldandi.com/public/1986/june/ar12.cfm,">web.archive.org/web/20080222124758www.worldandi.com/public/1986/june/ar12.cfm, February 22, 2008, 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.McGilligan, page 11 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.WEB, America’s Greatest Legends,www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/stars50.pdf, live, AFI’s 100 Years...100 Stars, American Film Institute, 2005, October 13, 2015,afi.com/Docs/100Years/stars50.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20151220152425afi.com/Docs/100Years/stars50.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20151220152425afi.com/Docs/100Years/stars50.pdf, December 20, 2015, Orson Welles described him as “maybe the greatest actor who ever appeared in front of a camera”.WEB,www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dAGcorF1Vo, Orson Welles - Interview (1974), youtube.com, January 11, 2018, February 16, 2021,web.archive.org/web/20210216064954/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dAGcorF1Vo, live, 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.WEB, Best Actor, FilmSite.org,www.filmsite.org/bestactor.html, October 17, 2008, January 28, 2013,www.filmsite.org/bestactor.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20130128223131www.filmsite.org/bestactor.html,">web.archive.org/web/20130128223131www.filmsite.org/bestactor.html, live, 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.NEWS, James Cagney: Looking Backward,www.rollingstone.com/movies/features/looking-backward-19820218, live, Rolling Stone, July 19, 2017,web.archive.org/web/20170923003157/https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/features/looking-backward-19820218, September 23, 2017, 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”.James L. Neibaur, James Cagney Films of the 1930s (London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014), xi. {{ISBN|1442242205}} 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.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

Early life

James Francis “Jimmy” Cagney Jr. was born in 1899 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. His biographers disagree as to the actual location: either on the corner of Avenue D and 8th Street,McGilligan, page 14 or in a top-floor apartment at 391 East 8th Street, the address that is on his birth certificate.McCabe, page 5 His father, James Francis Cagney Sr. (1875–1918), was of Irish descent. At the time of his son’s birth, he was a bartenderWarren, page 4 and amateur boxer, although on Cagney’s birth certificate, he is listed as a telegraphist. His mother was Carolyn Elizabeth (née Nelson; 1877–1945); her father was a Norwegian ship’s captain, and her mother was Irish.BOOK, McCabe, John, Cagney,www.nytimes.com/books/first/m/mccabe-cagney.html, The New York Times, November 1, 2007, bot: unknown,www.nytimes.com/books/first/m/mccabe-cagney.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20090409104008www.nytimes.com/books/first/m/mccabe-cagney.html,">web.archive.org/web/20090409104008www.nytimes.com/books/first/m/mccabe-cagney.html, April 9, 2009, Cagney was the second of seven children, two of whom died within months of their births. He was sickly as an infant—so much so that his mother feared he would die before he could be baptized. He later attributed his sickly health to the poverty his family endured.Cagney, page 2 The family moved twice while he was still young, first to East 79th Street, and then to East 96th Street.Cagney, page 3 He was confirmed at St. Francis de Sales Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan; his funeral service would eventually be held in the same church.The red-haired, blue-eyed Cagney graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York City in 1918, and attended Columbia College,NEWS, Flint, Peter B., 1986-03-31, James Cagney Is Dead at 86; Master of Pugnacious Grace, en-US, The New York Times,www.nytimes.com/1986/03/31/obituaries/james-cagney-is-dead-at-86-master-of-pugnacious-grace.html, 2023-08-28, 0362-4331, where he intended to major in Art.McGilligan, page 16 He also took German and joined the Student Army Training Corps,Cagney, page 23 but he dropped out after one semester, returning home upon the death of his father during the 1918 flu pandemic.Cagney held a variety of jobs early in his life: junior architect, copy boy for the New York Sun, book custodian at the New York Public Library, bellhop, draughtsman, and night doorkeeper.McGilligan, page 15 He gave all his earnings to his family. While Cagney was working for the New York Public Library, he met Florence James, who helped him into an acting career.James, pg. 45 Cagney believed in hard work, later stating, “It was good for me. I feel sorry for the kid who has too cushy a time of it. Suddenly he has to come face-to-face with the realities of life without any mama or papa to do his thinking for him.“He started tap dance as a boy (a skill that eventually contributed to his Academy Award) and was nicknamed “Cellar-Door Cagney” after his habit of dancing on slanted cellar doors. He was a good street fighter, defending his older brother Harry, a medical student, when necessary.Cagney, page 8 He engaged in amateur boxing, and was a runner-up for the New York state lightweight title. His coaches encouraged him to turn professional, but his mother would not allow it.Warren, pages 23–24 He also played semi-professional baseball for a local team, and entertained dreams of playing in the Major Leagues.Warren, page 22His introduction to films was unusual. When visiting an aunt who lived in Brooklyn, opposite Vitagraph Studios, Cagney would climb over the fence to watch the filming of John Bunny movies. He became involved in amateur dramatics, starting as a scenery boy for a Chinese pantomime at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House (one of the first settlement houses in the nation) where his brother Harry performed and Florence James directed. He was initially content working behind the scenes and had no interest in performing. One night, however, Harry became ill, and although Cagney was not an understudy, his photographic memory of rehearsals enabled him to stand in for his brother without making a single mistake.Warrens, pg. 45

Career

1919–1930: Early career

In 1919, while Cagney was working at Wanamaker’s Department Store, a colleague saw him dance and informed him about a role in the upcoming production, Every Sailor. It was a wartime play in which the chorus was made up of servicemen dressed as women that was originally titled Ever Sailor. Cagney auditioned for the chorus, although considering it a waste of time, as he knew only one dance step, the complicated Peabody, but he knew it perfectly.Warren, page 36 This was enough to convince the producers that he could dance, and he copied the other dancers’ moves and added them to his repertoire while waiting to go on.Cagney, page 27 He did not find it odd to play a woman, nor was he embarrassed. He later recalled how he was able to shed his own naturally shy persona when he stepped onto the stage: “For there I am not myself. I am not that fellow, Jim Cagney, at all. I certainly lost all consciousness of him when I put on skirts, wig, paint, powder, feathers and spangles.“McGilligan, page 19Had Cagney’s mother had her way, his stage career would have ended when he quit Every Sailor after two months; proud as she was of his performance, she preferred that he get an education.Warren, page 37 Cagney appreciated the $35 a week he was paid, which he later remembered as “a mountain of money for me in those worrisome days.” In deference to his mother’s concerns, he got a job as a brokerage house runner. This did not stop him from looking for more stage work, however, and he went on to audition successfully for a chorus part in the William B. Friedlander musical Pitter Patter, for which he earned $55 a week. (He sent $40 to his mother each week.Cagney, page 28) So strong was his habit of holding down more than one job at a time, that he also worked as a dresser for one of the leads, portered the casts’ luggage, and understudied for the lead. Among the chorus line performers was 20-year-old Frances Willard “Billie” Vernon; they married in 1922.The show began Cagney’s 10-year association with vaudeville and Broadway. The Cagneys were among the early residents of Free Acres, a social experiment established by Bolton Hall in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey.Cheslow, Jerry. “If You’re Thinking of Living In / Berkeley Heights, N.J.; Quiet Streets Near River and Mountain” {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107052740www.nytimes.com/1998/10/11/realestate/if-you-re-thinking-living-berkeley-heights-nj-quiet-streets-near-river-mountain.html |date=November 7, 2021}}, The New York Times, October 11, 1998. Accessed February 27, 2011. “Among the early residents of Free Acres were the actor James Cagney and his wife, Billie.”Pitter Patter was not hugely successful, but it did well enough to run for 32 weeks, making it possible for Cagney to join the vaudeville circuit. He and Vernon toured separately with a number of different troupes, reuniting as “Vernon and Nye” to do simple comedy routines and musical numbers. “Nye” was a rearrangement of the last syllable of Cagney’s surname.McGilligan, page 20Warren, page 46 One of the troupes Cagney joined was Parker, Rand, and Leach, taking over the spot vacated when Archie Leach—who later changed his name to Cary Grant—left.Cagney, page 29Warren, page 48In 1924, after years of touring and struggling to make money, Cagney and Vernon moved to Hawthorne, California, partly for Cagney to meet his new mother-in-law, who had just moved there from Chicago, and partly to investigate breaking into the movies. Their train fares were paid for by a friend, the press officer of Pitter Patter, who was also desperate to act.Warren, pages 52–54 They were not successful at first; the dance studio Cagney set up had few clients and folded; Vernon and he toured the studios, but there was no interest. Eventually, they borrowed some money and headed back to New York via Chicago and Milwaukee, enduring failure along the way when they attempted to make money on the stage. Cagney secured his first significant nondancing role in 1925. He played a young tough guy in the three-act play Outside Looking In by Maxwell Anderson, earning $200 a week. As with Pitter Patter, Cagney went to the audition with little confidence he would get the part. At this point, he had had no experience with drama.Warren 55 Cagney felt that he only got the role because his hair was redder than that of Alan Bunce, the only other red-headed performer in New York.Cagney, page 32 Both the play and Cagney received good reviews; Life magazine wrote, “Mr. Cagney, in a less spectacular role [than his co-star] makes a few minutes silence during his mock-trial scene something that many a more established actor might watch with profit.” Burns Mantle wrote that it “...contained the most honest acting now to be seen in New York.“McGilligan, page 22Following the four-month run of Outside Looking In, the Cagneys were financially secure enough for Cagney to return to vaudeville over the next few years, achieving various success. During this period, he met George M. Cohan, whom he later portrayed in Yankee Doodle Dandy, though they never spoke.Warren, page 57Cagney secured the lead role in the 1926–27 season West End production of Broadway by George Abbott. The show’s management insisted that he copy Broadway lead Lee Tracy’s performance, despite Cagney’s discomfort in doing so, but the day before the show sailed for England, they decided to replace him.Cagney, page 34 This was a devastating turn of events for Cagney apart from the logistical difficulties this presented - the couple’s luggage was in the hold of the ship and they had given up their apartment. He almost quit show business. As Vernon recalled, “Jimmy said that it was all over. He made up his mind that he would get a job doing something else.“Warren, page 60The Cagneys had run-of-the-play contracts, which lasted as long as the play did. Vernon was in the chorus line of the show, and with help from the Actors’ Equity Association, Cagney understudied Tracy on the Broadway show, providing them with a desperately needed steady income. Cagney also established a dance school for professionals, and then landed a part in the play Women Go On Forever, directed by John Cromwell, which ran for four months. By the end of the run, Cagney was exhausted from acting and running the dance school.WEB, James Cagney, June 17, 2010,www.bellazon.com/main/topic/29704-james-cagney/, live, September 26, 2020,web.archive.org/web/20211107052740/https://www.bellazon.com/main/topic/29704-james-cagney/, November 7, 2021, Cagney had built a reputation as an innovative teacher; when he was cast as the lead in Grand Street Follies of 1928, he was also appointed choreographer. The show received rave reviewsWarren, page 61 and was followed by Grand Street Follies of 1929. These roles led to a part in George Kelly’s Maggie the Magnificent, a play the critics disliked, though they liked Cagney’s performance. Cagney saw this role (and Women Go on Forever) as significant because of the talented directors he met. He learned “...what a director was for and what a director could do. They were directors who could play all the parts in the play better than the actors cast for them.“Cagney, pages 36–37

1930–1935: Warner Bros.

Sinners’ Holiday (1930) and The Doorway to Hell (1930)“>

Sinners’ Holiday (1930) and The Doorway to Hell (1930)

Playing opposite Cagney in Maggie the Magnificent was Joan Blondell, who starred again with him a few months later in Marie Baumer’s new play, Penny Arcade.McGilligan, page 24 While the critics panned Penny Arcade, they praised Cagney and Blondell. Al Jolson, sensing film potential, bought the rights for $20,000. He then sold the play to Warner Bros., with the stipulation that they cast Cagney and Blondell in the film version. Retitled Sinners’ Holiday, the film was released in 1930, starring Grant Withers and Evalyn Knapp. Joan Blondell recalled that when they were casting the film, studio head Jack Warner believed that she and Cagney had no future, and that Withers and Knapp were destined for stardom.BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=tkKWCwAAQBAJ&q=grapefruit+&pg=PA91, Conversations with Classic Film Stars: Interviews from Hollywood’s Golden Era, Bawden, James, Miller, Ron, 2016-03-04, University Press of Kentucky, 978-0-8131-6712-1, October 22, 2020, November 7, 2021,web.archive.org/web/20211107052739/https://books.google.com/books?id=tkKWCwAAQBAJ&q=grapefruit+&pg=PA91, live, Cagney was given a $500-a-week, three-week contract with Warner Bros.Warren, page 65In the film, he portrayed Harry Delano, a tough guy who becomes a killer but generates sympathy because of his unfortunate upbringing. This role of the sympathetic “bad” guy was to become a recurring character type for Cagney throughout his career.McGilligan, page 25 During filming of Sinners’ Holiday, he also demonstrated the stubbornness that characterized his attitude toward the work. He later recalled an argument he had with director John Adolfi about a line: “There was a line in the show where I was supposed to be crying on my mother’s breast... [The line] was ‘I’m your baby, ain’t I?’ I refused to say it. Adolfi said ‘I’m going to tell Zanuck.’ I said ‘I don’t give a shit what you tell him, I’m not going to say that line.{{’ “}} They took the line out.Warren, page 67Despite this outburst, the studio liked him, and before his three-week contract was up—while the film was still shootingCagney, page 39—they gave Cagney a three-week extension, which was followed by a full seven-year contract at $400 a week. However, the contract allowed Warners to drop him at the end of any 40-week period, effectively guaranteeing him only 40 weeks’ income at a time. As he did when he was growing up, Cagney shared his income with his family. Cagney received good reviews, and immediately played another colorful gangster supporting role in The Doorway to Hell (1930) starring Lew Ayres. The film was a financial hit, and helped to cement Cagney’s growing reputation.McGilligan, page 26 He made four more movies before his breakthrough role.The Public Enemy (1931)“>

The Public Enemy (1931)

File:Public-Enemy-Cagney-Woods.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Cagney and Edward WoodsEdward WoodsWarner Brothers’ succession of gangster movie hits, in particular Little Caesar with Edward G. Robinson,Warren, page 76 culminated in the 1931 film The Public Enemy. Due to the strong reviews he had received in his short film career, Cagney was cast as nice-guy Matt Doyle, opposite Edward Woods as Tom Powers. However, after the initial rushes, the actors switched roles.WEB,www.filmsite.org/publ.html, The Public Enemy (1931), March 21, 2008, Dirks, Tim, 2006, The Greatest Films, November 6, 2016,www.filmsite.org/publ.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20161106153819www.filmsite.org/publ.html,">web.archive.org/web/20161106153819www.filmsite.org/publ.html, live, Years later, Joan Blondell recalled that a few days into the filming, director William Wellman turned to Cagney and said “Now you’re the lead, kid!” “Jimmy’s charisma was so outstanding,” she added. The film cost only $151,000 to make, but it became one of the first low-budget films to gross $1 million.Warren, page 80Cagney received widespread praise for his performance. The New York Herald Tribune described his interpretation as “...the most ruthless, unsentimental appraisal of the meanness of a petty killer the cinema has yet devised.“McGilligan, page 32 He received top billing after the film,Cagney, page 46 but while he acknowledged the importance of the role to his career, he always disputed the suggestion that it changed the way heroes and leading men were portrayed. He cited Clark Gable’s slapping of Barbara Stanwyck six months earlier (in Night Nurse) as more important.McGilligan, pages 25–36 Night Nurse was actually released three months after The Public Enemy. Gable’s character punched Stanwyck’s, knocking the nurse unconscious. Many critics view the scene in which Cagney pushes half a grapefruit into Mae Clarke’s face as one of the most famous moments in movie history.Warren, pages 79–80McGilligan, page 33 The scene itself was a late addition, and the origin of the idea is a matter of debate: producer Darryl Zanuck claimed he thought of it in a script conference, Wellman said the idea came to him when he saw the grapefruit on the table during the shoot, and writers Glasmon and Bright claimed it was based on the real life of gangster Hymie Weiss, who threw an omelette into his girlfriend’s face. Joan Blondell recalled that the change was made when Cagney decided the omelette wouldn’t work. Cagney himself usually cited the writers’ version, but the fruit’s victim, Clarke, agreed that it was Wellman’s idea, saying, “I’m sorry I ever agreed to do the grapefruit bit. I never dreamed it would be shown in the movie. Director Bill Wellman thought of the idea suddenly. It wasn’t even written into the script.“McGilligan, page 34 However, according to Turner Classic Movies (TCM), the grapefruit scene was a practical joke that Cagney and costar Mae Clarke decided to play on the crew while the cameras were rolling. Wellman liked it so much that he left it in. TCM also notes that the scene made Clarke’s ex-husband, Lew Brice, very happy. “He saw the film repeatedly just to see that scene, and was often shushed by angry patrons when his delighted laughter got too loud.“Miller, Frank; Osborne, Robert. Leading Men: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actors of the Studio Era, Chronicle Books (2006) p. 39. {{ISBN|978-0811854672}}Cagney’s stubbornness became well known behind the scenes, especially after he refused to join in a 100% participation-free charity driveThe Stolen Jools ? pushed by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Cagney did not object to donating money to charity, but he did object to being forced to give. Already he had acquired the nickname “The Professional Againster”.NEWS, title, Liberty, 1, 18, 18, Warren, page 81Smart Money (1931), Blonde Crazy (1931), and Taxi! (1932)“>

Smart Money (1931), Blonde Crazy (1931), and Taxi! (1932)

(File:Taxi lobby card 2.jpg|thumb|right|Lobby card for Taxi! (1932))File:Taxi film still 3.jpg|thumb|right|Loretta YoungLoretta YoungFile:Taxi film still.jpg|thumb|right|David Landau, Loretta Young and Cagney in Taxi! (1932)]]Warner Bros. was quick to team its two rising gangster stars, Edward G. Robinson and Cagney, for the 1931 film Smart Money. Eager to follow the success of Robinson’s Little Caesar, the studio filmed Smart Money concurrently with The Public Enemy.Warren, page 82With the introduction of the Motion Picture Production Code of 1930 that placed limits upon on-screen violence, Warner Bros. allowed Cagney a change of pace, casting him in the comedy Blonde Crazy, again opposite Blondell.The AFI Catalog of Feature Films 1893-1993:Blonde CrazyThe Public Enemy was an enormous box-office success, and Cagney began to compare his pay with that of his peers, believing that his contract allowed for salary adjustments based on the success of his films. However, Warner Bros. refused to allow him a pay raise. The studio heads also insisted that Cagney continue promoting their films, even those in which he did not appear, despite his opposition. Cagney returned to New York, leaving his brother Bill to look after his apartment.Warren, page 85While Cagney was in New York, his brother, who had effectively become his agent, sought a substantial pay raise and more personal freedom for him. Following the success of The Public Enemy and Blonde Crazy, Warner Bros. offered Cagney a contract for $1,000 per week.Warren, page 89 Cagney’s first film upon returning from New York was Taxi! (1932), a critical success in which Cagney danced for the first time on screen. It also marked the last time that he permitted live ammunition to be shot at him, a relatively common occurrence at the time, as blank cartridges and squibs were rare and expensive. During filming for Taxi!, he was almost hit by gunfire.Warren, page 90 In the film’s opening scene, Cagney speaks fluent Yiddish, a language that he had learned during childhood in New York City.Blonde Crazy and Taxi! contain lines that became the basis of many misquoted celebrity impersonations of Cagney. He never said “Mmm, you dirty rat!” on film; in Blonde Crazy, he says: “That dirty, double-crossin’ rat!” and in Taxi!, he says: “Come out and take it, you dirty, yellow-bellied rat, or I’ll give it to you through the door!” The quote from Blonde Crazy was nominated for the American Film Institute’s 2005 AFI’s 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes list.WEB, AFI’s 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes Nominees,www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/quotes400.pdf, July 30, 2016, The film was swiftly followed by The Crowd Roars and Winner Take All.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}}

Fighting with Warner Bros.

, and Humphrey Bogart, all of whom were Warner Bros. actors, Cagney defined what a movie gangster was. In G MenG MenFile:The Crowd Roars (1932) trailer 2.jpg|thumb|right|Cagney, Ann Dvorak and Joan Blondell in The Crowd Roars (1932)]]File:Olivia de Havilland and James Cagney in The Irish in Us.jpg|thumb|right|Cagney and Olivia de Havilland in The Irish in UsThe Irish in UsFile:James Cagney and Pat O’Brien in Here Comes the Navy trailer.jpg|thumb|right|With close friend Pat O’Brien in Here Comes the NavyHere Comes the NavyDespite his success, Cagney remained dissatisfied with his contract. He wanted more money for his successful films, but he also offered to take a smaller salary should his star wane.Warren, page 93McGilligan, page 45 Warner Bros. refused, so Cagney once again walked out. He held out for $4000 a week, the same salary as Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Kay Francis. Warner Bros. refused to cave in this time, and suspended him. Cagney announced that he would do his next three pictures for free if they canceled the five years remaining on his contract. He also threatened to quit Hollywood and go back to Columbia University to follow his brothers into medicine. After six months of suspension, Frank Capra brokered a deal that increased Cagney’s salary to around $3000 a week, and guaranteed top billing and no more than four films a year.Warren, pages 94–95Having learned about the block-booking studio system that virtually guaranteed the studios huge profits, Cagney was determined to spread the wealth.Warren, page 95Cagney, page 52 He regularly sent money and goods to old friends from his neighborhood, though he did not generally make this known.Warren, page 96 His insistence on no more than four films a year was based on his having witnessed actors—even teenagers—regularly being worked 100 hours a week to turn out more films. This experience was an integral reason for his involvement in forming the Screen Actors Guild in 1933.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}}Cagney returned to the studio and made Hard to Handle (1933). This was followed by a steady stream of crowd-pleasing films, including the highly regarded Footlight Parade,Warren, page 101 which gave Cagney the chance to return to his song-and-dance roots. The film includes show-stopping scenes with Busby Berkeley-choreographed routines.McGilligan, page 49 In 1934, Here Comes the Navy paired him with Pat O’Brien for the first of nine films together. The two would have an enduring friendship.Warren, page 100 Also in 1934, Cagney made his first of two raucous comedies with Bette Davis, Jimmy the Gent, for which he had himself heavily made up with thick eyebrows and procured an odd haircut for the period without the studio’s permission, shaved on the back and sides. Cagney initially had the make-up department put prominent scars on the back of his head for a close-up but the studio demanded that he remove them. Cagney’s and Davis’s fast-paced scenes together were particularly energetic.File:James Cagney in Here Comes the Navy trailer.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Here Comes the NavyHere Comes the NavyIn 1935 Cagney was listed as one of the Top Ten Moneymakers in Hollywood for the first time,Warren, page 114 and was cast more frequently in non-gangster roles; he played a lawyer who joins the FBI in G-Men, and he also took on his first, and only, Shakespearean role, as top-billed Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream alongside Joe E. Brown as Francis Flute and Mickey Rooney as Puck.Cagney’s last movie in 1935 was Ceiling Zero, his third film with Pat O’Brien. O’Brien received top billing, which was a clear breach of Cagney’s contract. This, combined with the fact that Cagney had made five movies in 1934, again against his contract terms, caused him to bring legal proceedings against Warner Bros. for breach of contract.Warren, pages 120–121WEB,www.reelclassics.com/Teams/Flynn-deHav/efodh3.htm, Errol Flynn & Olivia de Havilland â€“ The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Reelclassics, January 15, 2009, February 19, 2021,www.reelclassics.com/Teams/Flynn-deHav/efodh3.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20210219224440www.reelclassics.com/Teams/Flynn-deHav/efodh3.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20210219224440www.reelclassics.com/Teams/Flynn-deHav/efodh3.htm, live, The dispute dragged on for several months. Cagney received calls from David Selznick and Sam Goldwyn, but neither felt in a position to offer him work while the dispute went on. Meanwhile, while being represented by his brother William in court, Cagney went back to New York to search for a country property where he could indulge his passion for farming.

1936–1937: Independent years

Cagney spent most of the next year on his farm, and went back to work only when Edward L. Alperson from Grand National Films, a newly established, independent studio, approached him to make movies for $100,000 a film and 10% of the profits.WEB,www.cobbles.com/simpp_archive/cagneys.htm, Hollywood Renegades – Cagney Productions, January 15, 2009, December 16, 2008,www.cobbles.com/simpp_archive/cagneys.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20081216090423www.cobbles.com/simpp_archive/cagneys.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20081216090423www.cobbles.com/simpp_archive/cagneys.htm, live, Warren, page 122 Cagney made two films for Grand National: Great Guy and Something to Sing About. He received good reviews for both,McGilligan, page 66McGilligan, page 70 but overall the production quality was not up to Warner Bros. standards, and the films did not do well. A third film, Dynamite, was planned, but Grand National ran out of money.Warren, page 123Cagney also became involved in political causes, and in 1936, agreed to sponsor the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League.Wilford, Hugh, The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America, Harvard University Press, {{ISBN|0-674-02681-0}}, {{ISBN|978-0-674-02681-0}} (2008), pp. 12–13 Unknown to Cagney, the League was in fact a front organization for the Communist International (Comintern), which sought to enlist support for the Soviet Union and its foreign policies.Doherty, Thomas, Hollywood’s Censor: Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration, New York: Columbia University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-231-14358-5}} (2007), pp. 206–207File:Something to Sing About Cagney.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Cagney in Something to Sing About (1937)]]The courts eventually decided the Warner Bros. lawsuit in Cagney’s favor. He had done what many thought unthinkable: taking on the studios and winning. Not only did he win, but Warner Bros. also knew that he was still their foremost box office draw and invited him back for a five-year, $150,000-a-film deal, with no more than two pictures a year. Cagney also had full say over what films he did and did not make.Warren, page 124 Additionally, William Cagney was guaranteed the position of assistant producer for the movies in which his brother starred.WEB,www.imagesjournal.com/issue03/infocus/stars7.htm, Some Historical Reflections on the Paradoxes of Stardom in the American Film Industry, 1910–1960: Part Six, March 3, 2008, Gallagher, Brian, February 6, 2008,www.imagesjournal.com/issue03/infocus/stars7.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20080206123903www.imagesjournal.com/issue03/infocus/stars7.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20080206123903www.imagesjournal.com/issue03/infocus/stars7.htm, live, Cagney had demonstrated the power of the walkout in keeping the studios to their word. He later explained his reasons, saying, “I walked out because I depended on the studio heads to keep their word on this, that or other promise, and when the promise was not kept, my only recourse was to deprive them of my services.“Cagney, page 51 Cagney himself acknowledged the importance of the walkout for other actors in breaking the dominance of the studio system. Normally, when a star walked out, the time he or she was absent was added onto the end of an already long contract, as happened with Olivia de Havilland and Bette Davis. Cagney, however, walked out and came back to a better contract. Many in Hollywood watched the case closely for hints of how future contracts might be handled.McGilligan, page 63Artistically, the Grand National experiment was a success for Cagney, who was able to move away from his traditional Warner Bros. tough guy roles to more sympathetic characters.McGilligan, page 71 How far he could have experimented and developed will never be known, but back in the Warner fold, he was once again playing tough guys.

1938–1942: Return to Warner Bros.

Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)“>

Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)

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Cagney and Pat O’Brien in Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), the sixth of nine feature films they would make together

(File:James Cagney Pat O’Brien Angels with Dirty Faces Still.jpg|thumb|right|Cagney and Pat O’Brien in the endlessly debated final walk)(File:Cagney angels final walk.jpg|right|thumb|Cagney takes the controversial final walk)File:Ann SHERIDAN-James CAGNEY-Angels Dirty Faces-PHOTO2.jpg|left|thumb|Ann SheridanAnn SheridanCagney’s two films of 1938, Boy Meets Girl and Angels with Dirty Faces, both costarred Pat O’Brien. The former had Cagney in a comedy role, and received mixed reviews. Warner Bros. had allowed Cagney his change of pace,Warren, page 127 but was keen to get him back to playing tough guys, which was more lucrative. Ironically, the script for Angels was one that Cagney had hoped to do while with Grand National, but the studio had been unable to secure funding.Cagney starred as Rocky Sullivan, a gangster fresh out of jail and looking for his former associate, played by Humphrey Bogart, who owes him money. While revisiting his old haunts, he runs into his old friend Jerry Connolly, played by O’Brien, who is now a priest concerned about the Dead End Kids’ futures, particularly as they idolize Rocky. After a messy shootout, Sullivan is eventually captured by the police and sentenced to death in the electric chair. Connolly pleads with Rocky to “turn yellow” on his way to the chair so the Kids will lose their admiration for him, and hopefully avoid turning to crime. Sullivan refuses, but on his way to his execution, he breaks down and begs for his life. It is unclear whether this cowardice is real or just feigned for the Kids’ benefit. Cagney himself refused to say, insisting he liked the ambiguity.Cagney, page 76 The film is regarded by many as one of Cagney’s finest,McGilligan, page 73 and garnered him an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination for 1938. He lost to Spencer Tracy in Boys Town. Cagney had been considered for the role, but lost out on it due to his typecasting.Warren, page 163 (He also lost the role of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne in Knute Rockne, All American to his friend Pat O’Brien for the same reason.) Cagney did, however, win that year’s New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor.His earlier insistence on not filming with live ammunition proved to be a good decision. Having been told while filming Angels with Dirty Faces that he would be doing a scene with real machine gun bullets (a common practice in the Hollywood of the time), Cagney refused and insisted the shots be added afterwards. As it turned out, a ricocheting bullet passed through exactly where his head would have been.Warren, page 129Cagney, page73The Roaring Twenties (1939)“>

The Roaring Twenties (1939)

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- Humphrey Bogart James Cagney Jeffrey Lynn in The Roaring Twenties trailer.jpg -
alt=Close up shot of three men in a room talking|upright|Humphrey Bogart with Cagney and Jeffrey Lynn in The Roaring Twenties (1939)

(File:James Cagney Humphrey Bogart The Roaring Twenties Still.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Cagney and Bogart in The Roaring Twenties (1939))During his first year back at Warner Bros., Cagney became the studio’s highest earner, making $324,000.Warren, page 130 He starred with George Raft in the smash hit Each Dawn I Die, an extremely entertaining prison movie that was so successful at the box office that it prompted the studio to offer Raft an important contract in the wake of his departure from Paramount. In addition, Cagney made The Oklahoma Kid, a memorable Western with Humphrey Bogart as the black-clad villain. Cagney completed his first decade of movie-making in 1939 with The Roaring Twenties, his first film with Raoul Walsh and his last with Bogart. After The Roaring Twenties, it would be a decade before Cagney made another gangster film. Cagney again received good reviews; Graham Greene stated, “Mr. Cagney, of the bull-calf brow, is as always a superb and witty actor”.McGilligan, page 79 The Roaring Twenties was the last film in which Cagney’s character’s violence was explained by poor upbringing, or his environment, as was the case in The Public Enemy. From that point on, violence was attached to mania, as in White Heat. In 1939 Cagney was second to only Gary Cooper in the national acting wage stakes, earning $368,333.Warren, page 135City for Conquest, The Fighting 69th, and The Strawberry Blonde“>

1940–1941: City for Conquest, The Fighting 69th, and The Strawberry Blonde

(File:San Leandro, California. Hanging Around. Twenty years old, his high school education is over and college was never... - NARA - 532243.tif|right|thumb|upright|Passerby views original movie poster for The Fighting 69th in 1940)In 1940, Cagney portrayed a boxer in the epic thriller City for Conquest with Ann Sheridan as Cagney’s leading lady, Arthur Kennedy in his first screen role as Cagney’s younger brother attempting to compose musical symphonies, Anthony Quinn as a brutish dancer, and Elia Kazan as a flamboyantly dressed young gangster originally from the local neighborhood. The well-received film with its shocking plot twists features one of Cagney’s most moving performances. Later the same year, Cagney and Sheridan reunited with Pat O’Brien in Torrid Zone, a turbulent comedy set in a Central American country in which a labor organizer is turning the workers against O’Brien’s character’s banana company, with Cagney’s “Nick Butler” intervening. The supporting cast features Andy Devine and George Reeves.Cagney’s third film in 1940 was The Fighting 69th, a World War I film about a real-life unit with Cagney playing a fictional private, alongside Pat O’Brien as Father Francis P. Duffy, George Brent as future OSS leader Maj. “Wild Bill” Donovan, and Jeffrey Lynn as famous young poet Sgt. Joyce Kilmer. Alan Hale Sr., Frank McHugh and Dick Foran also appear. In 1941, Cagney and Bette Davis reunited for a comedy set in the contemporary West titled The Bride Came C.O.D., followed by a change of pace with the gentle turn-of-the-century romantic comedy The Strawberry Blonde (1941) featuring songs of the period and also starring Olivia de Havilland and rising young phenomenon Rita Hayworth, along with Alan Hale Sr. and Jack Carson.Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)“>

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

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upCagney as George M. Cohan

, performing “The Yankee Doodle Boy” from Yankee Doodle DandyYankee Doodle DandyIn 1942, Cagney portrayed George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy, a film Cagney “took great pride in“Cagney, page 107 and considered his best.Warren, page 154 Producer Hal Wallis said that having seen Cohan in I’d Rather Be Right, he never considered anyone other than Cagney for the part.Warren, page 150 Cagney, though, insisted that Fred Astaire had been the first choice, but turned it down.Cagney, page 104 Many critics of the time and since have declared it Cagney’s best film, drawing parallels between Cohan and Cagney; they both began their careers in vaudeville, struggled for years before reaching the peak of their profession, were surrounded with family and married early, and both had a wife who was happy to sit back while he went on to stardom.McGilligan, page 92Warren, page 151 The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won three, including Cagney’s for Best Actor. In his acceptance speech, Cagney said, “I’ve always maintained that in this business, you’re only as good as the other fellow thinks you are. It’s nice to know that you people thought I did a good job. And don’t forget that it was a good part, too.“Warren, page 165Filming began the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the cast and crew worked in a “patriotic frenzy” as the United States’ involvement in World War II gave the workers a feeling that “they might be sending the last message from the free world”, according to actress Rosemary DeCamp.Warren, page 149 Cohan was given a private showing of the film shortly before his death, and thanked Cagney “for a wonderful job,“Warren, page 152 exclaiming, “My God, what an act to follow!“Ebert, Roger. ”Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)” {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220210103701www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-yankee-doodle-dandy-1942 |date=February 10, 2022 }}, RogerEbert.com, July 5, 1998, accessed July 4, 2011 A paid première, with seats ranging from $25 to $25,000, raised $5,750,000 for war bonds for the US treasury.McGilligan, page 94Warren, pages 154–155

1942–1948: Independent again

Cagney announced in March 1942 that his brother William and he were setting up Cagney Productions to release films though United Artists.Warren, pages 164–165 Free of Warner Bros. again, Cagney spent some time relaxing on his farm in Martha’s Vineyard before volunteering to join the USO. He spent several weeks touring the US, entertaining troops with vaudeville routines and scenes from Yankee Doodle Dandy.Warren, page 164 In September 1942, he was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild.Almost a year after its creation, Cagney Productions produced its first film, Johnny Come Lately, in 1943. While the major studios were producing patriotic war movies, Cagney was determined to continue dispelling his tough-guy image,Warren, page 167 so he produced a movie that was a “complete and exhilarating exposition of the Cagney ‘alter-ego’ on film”.McGilligan, page 99 According to Cagney, the film “made money but it was no great winner”, and reviews varied from excellent (Time) to poor (New York’s PM).Warren, pages 167–168Following the film’s completion, Cagney went back to the USO and toured US military bases in the UK. He refused to give interviews to the British press, preferring to concentrate on rehearsals and performances. He gave several performances a day for the Army Signal Corps of The American Cavalcade of Dance, which consisted of a history of American dance, from the earliest days to Fred Astaire, and culminated with dances from Yankee Doodle Dandy.The second movie Cagney’s company produced was Blood on the Sun. Insisting on doing his own stunts, Cagney required judo training from expert Ken Kuniyuki and Jack Halloran, a former policeman.Warren, page 170 The Cagneys had hoped that an action film would appeal more to audiences, but it fared worse at the box office than Johnny Come Lately. At this time, Cagney heard of young war hero Audie Murphy, who had appeared on the cover of Life magazine.MAGAZINE,www.arlingtoncemetery.net/audie-murphy-life-cover-07161945.jpg, Cover Image, Life Magazine, July 16, 1945, November 1, 2007, December 18, 2008,www.arlingtoncemetery.net/audie-murphy-life-cover-07161945.jpg," title="web.archive.org/web/20081218014755www.arlingtoncemetery.net/audie-murphy-life-cover-07161945.jpg,">web.archive.org/web/20081218014755www.arlingtoncemetery.net/audie-murphy-life-cover-07161945.jpg, live, Cagney thought that Murphy had the looks to be a movie star, and suggested that he come to Hollywood. Cagney felt, however, that Murphy could not act, and his contract was loaned out and then sold.Warren, page 171While negotiating the rights for his third independent film, Cagney starred in 20th Century Fox’s 13 Rue Madeleine for $300,000 for two months of work.Warren, page 178 The wartime spy film was a success, and Cagney was keen to begin production of his new project, an adaptation of William Saroyan’s Broadway play The Time of Your Life. Saroyan himself loved the film, but it was a commercial disaster, costing the company half a million dollars to make;Warren, page 180 audiences again struggled to accept Cagney in a nontough-guy role.McGilligan, page 112Cagney Productions was in serious trouble; poor returns from the produced films, and a legal dispute with Sam Goldwyn Studio over a rental agreement forced Cagney back to Warner Bros. He signed a distribution-production deal with the studio for the film White Heat, effectively making Cagney Productions a unit of Warner Bros.

1949–1955: Back to Warner Bros.

White Heat (1949)“>

White Heat (1949)

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alt=Head and shoulders shot of Cagney, wearing black fedora and smiling slightly, scenery in the background|Cagney as Cody Jarrett in White Heat (1949)

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upright|With Virginia Mayo in White Heat (1949)

Cagney’s portrayal of Cody Jarrett in the 1949 film White Heat is one of his most memorable.NEWS, Thomson, David, June 26, 2004, Rage in Motion,books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1246682,00.html, June 15, 2008, London, The Guardian, February 19, 2021,web.archive.org/web/20210219224427/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/jun/26/books.featuresreviews, live, Cinema had changed in the 10 years since Walsh last directed Cagney (in The Strawberry Blonde), and the actor’s portrayal of gangsters had also changed. Unlike Tom Powers in The Public Enemy, Jarrett was portrayed as a raging lunatic with few if any sympathetic qualities.McGilligan, pages 112–114 In the 18 intervening years, Cagney’s hair had begun to gray, and he developed a paunch for the first time. He was no longer a dashing romantic commodity in precisely the same way he obviously was before, and this was reflected in his performance. Cagney himself had the idea of playing Jarrett as psychotic; he later stated, “it was essentially a cheapie one-two-three-four kind of thing, so I suggested we make him nuts. It was agreed so we put in all those fits and headaches.“Warren, page 181Cagney’s final lines in the film – “Made it, Ma! Top of the world!” – was voted the 18th-greatest movie line by the American Film Institute. Likewise, Jarrett’s explosion of rage in prison on being told of his mother’s death is widely hailed as one of Cagney’s most memorable performances.McGilligan, pages 114–116 Some of the extras on set actually became terrified of the actor because of his violent portrayal. Cagney attributed the performance to his father’s alcoholic rages, which he had witnessed as a child, as well as someone that he had seen on a visit to a mental hospital.The film was a critical success, though some critics wondered about the social impact of a character that they saw as sympathetic.McGilligan, page 116 Cagney was still struggling against his gangster typecasting. He said to a journalist, “It’s what the people want me to do. Some day, though, I’d like to make another movie that kids could go and see.“Warren, page 182 However, Warner Bros., perhaps searching for another Yankee Doodle Dandy, assigned Cagney a musical for his next picture, 1950’s The West Point Story with Doris Day, an actress he admired.Warren, page 183His next film, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, was another gangster movie, which was the first by Cagney Productions since its acquisition. While compared unfavorably to White Heat by critics, it was fairly successful at the box office, with $500,000 going straight to Cagney Productions’ bankers to pay off their losses.Warren, page 184 Cagney Productions was not a great success, however, and in 1953, after William Cagney produced his last film, A Lion Is in the Streets, a drama loosely based on flamboyant politician Huey Long, the company came to an end.Love Me or Leave Me (1955)“>

Love Me or Leave Me (1955)

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alt=face shot of Cagney with short hair parted slightly off center|upCagney as gangster Martin “Moe the Gimp” Snyder in Love Me or Leave Me (1955)

Cagney’s next notable role was the 1955 film Love Me or Leave Me, his third with Doris Day, who was top-billed above Cagney for this picture, the first movie for which he’d accepted second billing since Smart Money in 1931. Cagney played Martin “Moe the Gimp” Snyder, a lame Jewish-American gangster from Chicago, a part Spencer Tracy had turned down.Cagney, page 135 Cagney described the script as “that extremely rare thing, the perfect script”.Warren, page 189 When the film was released, Snyder reportedly asked how Cagney had so accurately copied his limp, but Cagney himself insisted he had not, having based it on personal observation of other people when they limped: “What I did was very simple. I just slapped my foot down as I turned it out while walking. That’s all”.His performance earned him another Best Actor Academy Award nomination, 17 years after his first. Reviews were strong, and the film is considered one of the best of his later career. In Day, he found a co-star with whom he could build a rapport, such as he had had with Blondell at the start of his career.McGilligan, page 135 Day herself was full of praise for Cagney, stating that he was “the most professional actor I’ve ever known. He was always ‘real’. I simply forgot we were making a picture. His eyes would actually fill up when we were working on a tender scene. And you never needed drops to make your eyes shine when Jimmy was on the set.”Mister Roberts (1955)“>

Mister Roberts (1955)

File:Mister Roberts (1955 movie poster).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Poster (in public domain) for Mister Roberts (1955) with Henry Fonda, Cagney, William Powell and Jack LemmonJack LemmonCagney’s next film was Mister Roberts, directed by John Ford and slated to star Spencer Tracy. Tracy’s involvement ensured that Cagney accepted a supporting role in his close friend’s movie, although in the end, Tracy did not take part and Henry Fonda played the titular role instead.Warren, page 190 Cagney enjoyed working with the film’s superb cast despite the absence of Tracy. Major film star William Powell played a rare supporting role as “Doc” in the film, his final picture before retirement from a stellar career that had spanned 33 years, since his first appearance in Sherlock Holmes with John Barrymore in 1922. Cagney had worked with Ford on What Price Glory? three years earlier, and they had gotten along fairly well. However, as soon as Ford had met Cagney at the airport for that film, the director warned him that they would eventually “tangle asses”, which caught Cagney by surprise. He later said, “I would have kicked his brains out. He was so goddamned mean to everybody. He was truly a nasty old man.“Warren, page 191 The next day, Cagney was slightly late on set, incensing Ford. Cagney cut short his imminent tirade, saying “When I started this picture, you said that we would tangle asses before this was over. I’m ready now – are you?” Ford walked away, and they had no more problems, though Cagney never particularly liked Ford.Cagney’s skill at noticing tiny details in other actors’ performances became apparent during the shooting of Mister Roberts. While watching the Kraft Music Hall anthology television show some months before, Cagney had noticed Jack Lemmon performing left-handed, doing practically everything with his left hand. The first thing that Cagney asked Lemmon when they met was if he was still using his left hand. Lemmon was shocked; he had done it on a whim, and thought no one else had noticed. He said of his co-star, “his powers of observation must be absolutely incredible, in addition to the fact that he remembered it. I was very flattered.“The film was a success, securing three Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Sound Recording and Best Supporting Actor for Lemmon, who won. While Cagney was not nominated, he had thoroughly enjoyed the production. Filming on Midway Island and in a more minor role meant that he had time to relax and engage in his hobby of painting. He also drew caricatures of the cast and crew.Warren, page 192

1955–1961: Later career

In 1955 Cagney replaced Spencer Tracy on the Western film Tribute to a Bad Man for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He received praise for his performance, and the studio liked his work enough to offer him These Wilder Years with Barbara Stanwyck. The two stars got on well; they had both previously worked in vaudeville, and they entertained the cast and crew off-screen by singing and dancing.Warren, pages, 196–197In 1956 Cagney undertook one of his very rare television roles, starring in Robert Montgomery’s Soldiers From the War Returning. This was a favor to Montgomery, who needed a strong fall season opener to stop the network from dropping his series. Cagney’s appearance ensured that it was a success. The actor made it clear to reporters afterwards that television was not his medium: “I do enough work in movies. This is a high-tension business. I have tremendous admiration for the people who go through this sort of thing every week, but it’s not for me.“Warren, page 197The following year, Cagney appeared in Man of a Thousand Faces, in which he played a fictionalized version of Lon Chaney. He received excellent reviews, with the New York Journal American rating it one of his best performances, and the film, made for Universal, was a box office hit. Cagney’s skill at mimicry, combined with a physical similarity to Chaney, helped him generate empathy for his character.McGilligan, page 141Warren, page 198Later in 1957, Cagney ventured behind the camera for the first and only time to direct Short Cut to Hell, a remake of the 1941 Alan Ladd film This Gun for Hire, which in turn was based on the Graham Greene novel A Gun for Sale. Cagney had long been told by friends that he would make an excellent director, so when he was approached by his friend, producer A. C. Lyles, he instinctively said yes. He refused all offers of payment, saying he was an actor, not a director. The film was low budget, and shot quickly. As Cagney recalled, “We shot it in twenty days, and that was long enough for me. I find directing a bore, I have no desire to tell other people their business”.Warren, page 199In 1959 Cagney played a labor leader in what proved to be his final musical, Never Steal Anything Small, which featured a comical song and dance duet with Cara Williams, who played his girlfriend.For Cagney’s next film, he traveled to Ireland for Shake Hands with the Devil, directed by Michael Anderson. Cagney had hoped to spend some time tracing his Irish ancestry, but time constraints and poor weather meant that he was unable to do so. The overriding message of violence inevitably leading to more violence attracted Cagney to the role of an Irish Republican Army commander, and resulted in what some critics would regard as the finest performance of his final years.Warren, pages 199–200The Gallant Hours (1960)“>

The Gallant Hours (1960)

File:Gallant Hours-Montgomery-Halsey-Cagney.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Robert Montgomery, “Bull” Halsey, and Cagney on set]]Cagney’s career began winding down, and he made only one film in 1960, the critically acclaimed The Gallant Hours, in which he played Admiral William F. “Bull” Halsey. The film, although set during the Guadalcanal Campaign in the Pacific Theater during World War II, was not a war film, but instead focused on the impact of command. Cagney Productions, which shared the production credit with Robert Montgomery’s company, made a brief return, though in name only. The film was a success, and The New York Times{{’}}s Bosley Crowther singled its star out for praise: “It is Mr. Cagney’s performance, controlled to the last detail, that gives life and strong, heroic stature to the principal figure in the film. There is no braggadocio in it, no straining for bold or sharp effects. It is one of the quietest, most reflective, subtlest jobs that Mr. Cagney has ever done.“Warren, page 205McGilligan, page 150One, Two, Three (1961)“>

One, Two, Three (1961)

(File:One Two Three trailer (1961).webm|thumb|thumbtime=164|One, Two, Three theatrical trailer)Cagney’s penultimate film was a comedy. He was hand-picked by Billy Wilder to play a hard-driving Coca-Cola executive in the film One, Two, Three.Warren, page 202 Cagney had concerns with the script, remembering back 23 years to Boy Meets Girl, in which scenes were reshot to try to make them funnier by speeding up the pacing, with the opposite effect. Cagney received assurances from Wilder that the script was balanced. Filming did not go well, though, with one scene requiring 50 takes, something to which Cagney was unaccustomed.McGilligan, page 151 In fact, it was one of the worst experiences of his long career. Cagney noted, “I never had the slightest difficulty with a fellow actor. Not until One, Two, Three. In that picture, Horst Buchholz tried all sorts of scene-stealing didoes. I came close to knocking him on his ass.” For the first time, Cagney considered walking out of a film. He felt he had worked too many years inside studios, and combined with a visit to Dachau concentration camp during filming, he decided that he had had enough, and retired afterward.Warren, page 204 One of the few positive aspects was his friendship with Pamela Tiffin, to whom he gave acting guidance, including the secret that he had learned over his career: “You walk in, plant yourself squarely on both feet, look the other fella in the eye, and tell the truth.“Warren, page 203

1961–1986: Later years and retirement

Cagney remained in retirement for 20 years, conjuring up images of Jack L. Warner every time he was tempted to return, which soon dispelled the notion. After he had turned down an offer to play Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady,Warren, page 207Cagney, page 197 he found it easier to rebuff others, including a part in The Godfather Part II. He made few public appearances, preferring to spend winters in Los Angeles, and summers either at his Martha’s Vineyard farm or at Verney Farms in New York. When in New York, Billie Vernon and he held numerous parties at the Silver Horn restaurant, where they got to know Marge Zimmermann, the proprietress.Warren, page 210

American Film Institute Life Achievement Award (1974)

Cagney was diagnosed with glaucoma and began taking eye drops, but continued to have vision problems. On Zimmermann’s recommendation, he visited a different doctor, who determined that glaucoma had been a misdiagnosis, and that Cagney was actually diabetic. Zimmermann then took it upon herself to look after Cagney, preparing his meals to reduce his blood triglycerides, which had reached alarming levels. Such was her success that, by the time Cagney made a rare public appearance at his American Film Institute Life Achievement Award ceremony in 1974, he had lost {{convert|20|lb}} and his vision had improved.Warren, page 211 Charlton Heston opened the ceremony, and Frank Sinatra introduced Cagney. So many Hollywood stars attended—said to be more than for any event in history—that one columnist wrote at the time that a bomb in the dining room would have ended the movie industry. In his acceptance speech, Cagney lightly chastised the impressionist Frank Gorshin, saying, “Oh, Frankie, just in passing, I never said ‘MMMMmmmm, you dirty rat!’ What I actually did say was ‘Judy, Judy, Judy!’“—a joking reference to a similar misquotation attributed to Cary Grant.Warren, page 209Ragtime (1981)“>

Ragtime (1981)

While at Coldwater Canyon in 1977, Cagney had a minor stroke. After he spent two weeks in the hospital, Zimmermann became his full-time caregiver, traveling with Billie Vernon and him wherever they went.Warren, page 212 After the stroke, Cagney was no longer able to undertake many of his favorite pastimes, including horseback riding and dancing, and as he became more depressed, he even gave up painting. Encouraged by his wife and Zimmermann, Cagney accepted an offer from the director MiloÅ¡ Forman to star in a small but pivotal role in the film Ragtime (1981).Richard Schickel gives a first-person account of the filming in chapter 3 (James Cagney) of The Actors (NY: New Word City, 2016). {{ISBN|161230995X}}This film was shot mainly at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England, and on his arrival at Southampton aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2, Cagney was mobbed by hundreds of fans. Cunard Line officials, who were responsible for security at the dock, said they had never seen anything like it, although they had experienced past visits by Marlon Brando and Robert Redford.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}}Despite the fact that Ragtime was his first film in 20 years, Cagney was immediately at ease: Flubbed lines and miscues were committed by his co-stars, often simply through sheer awe. Howard Rollins, who received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his performance, said, “I was frightened to meet Mr. Cagney. I asked him how to die in front of the camera. He said ‘Just die!’ It worked. Who would know more about dying than him?” Cagney also repeated the advice he had given to Pamela Tiffin, Joan Leslie, and Lemmon. As filming progressed, Cagney’s sciatica worsened, but he finished the nine-week filming, and reportedly stayed on the set after completing his scenes to help the other actors with their dialogue.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}}Cagney’s frequent co-star, Pat O’Brien, appeared with him on the British chat show Parkinson in the early 1980s and they both made a surprise appearance at the Queen Mother’s command birthday performance at the London Palladium in 1980.WEB,news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19801128&id=FVwxAAAAIBAJ&pg=1801,3663573, The Montreal Gazette – Google News Archive Search, September 15, 2020, November 3, 2021,web.archive.org/web/20211103190944/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19801128&id=FVwxAAAAIBAJ&pg=1801%2C3663573, live, His appearance onstage prompted the Queen Mother to rise to her feet, the only time she did so during the whole show, and she later broke protocol to go backstage to speak with Cagney directly.Warren, page 215Terrible Joe Moran (1984)“>

Terrible Joe Moran (1984)

Cagney made a rare TV appearance in the lead role of the movie Terrible Joe Moran in 1984. This was his last role. Cagney’s health was fragile and more strokes had confined him to a wheelchair, but the producers worked his real-life mobility problem into the story. They also decided to dub his impaired speech, using the impersonator Rich Little.WEB,www.imdb.com/name/nm0514648/bio, Rich Little, IMDb, 2019-01-19, January 28, 2017,www.imdb.com/name/nm0514648/bio," title="web.archive.org/web/20170128020541www.imdb.com/name/nm0514648/bio,">web.archive.org/web/20170128020541www.imdb.com/name/nm0514648/bio, live, The film made use of fight clips from Cagney’s boxing movie Winner Take All (1932).

Personal life

File:CredCagneyFootlightParade33Trailer.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Footlight ParadeFootlight ParadeIn 1920, Cagney was a member of the chorus for the show Pitter Patter, where he met Frances Willard “Billie” Vernon. They married on September 28, 1922, and the marriage lasted until his death in 1986. Frances Cagney died in 1994.WEB,www.geni.com/people/Frances-Cagney/6000000018057181984, Frances Willard Cagney, geni_family_tree, June 19, 1899, October 5, 2013, October 6, 2013,www.geni.com/people/Frances-Cagney/6000000018057181984," title="web.archive.org/web/20131006174643www.geni.com/people/Frances-Cagney/6000000018057181984,">web.archive.org/web/20131006174643www.geni.com/people/Frances-Cagney/6000000018057181984, live, In 1940 they adopted a son whom they named James Francis Cagney III, and later a daughter, Cathleen “Casey” Cagney.NEWS,www.upi.com/Archives/1984/01/31/A-funeral-will-be-held-Wednesday-for-James-Cagney/4913444373200/, A funeral will be held Wednesday for James Cagney... - UPI Archives, Upi, March 25, 2017, March 26, 2017,www.upi.com/Archives/1984/01/31/A-funeral-will-be-held-Wednesday-for-James-Cagney/4913444373200/," title="web.archive.org/web/20170326051930www.upi.com/Archives/1984/01/31/A-funeral-will-be-held-Wednesday-for-James-Cagney/4913444373200/,">web.archive.org/web/20170326051930www.upi.com/Archives/1984/01/31/A-funeral-will-be-held-Wednesday-for-James-Cagney/4913444373200/, live, Cagney, page 114 Cagney was a very private man, and while he was willing to give the press opportunities for photographs, he generally spent his personal time out of the public eye.Cagney, page 80Cagney’s son died from a heart attack on January 27, 1984, in Washington, D.C., two years before his father’s death.NEWS, ‘Jack of All Trades’ Cagney’s Son Dies,news.google.com/newspapers?id=D4oxAAAAIBAJ&pg=6096,4524625, ... seen in two years James Cagney, Jr. died Friday of a heart attack in Washington. Cagney’s secretary Marge Zimmermann said yesterday The elder Cagney is very ..., Associated Press, January 31, 1984, August 25, 2010, November 7, 2021,web.archive.org/web/20211107052741/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=D4oxAAAAIBAJ&pg=6096%2C4524625, live, NEWS, James Cagney, Jr.,nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PI&s_site=philly&p_multi=PI&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB29707206E0094&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D, James Cagney Jr., 43, adopted son of actor James Cagney, died Friday of a heart attack in Washington, D.C., according to Marge Zimmermann, the actor’s secretary. She said the 84-year-old actor, at home on his farm in Stanfordville, N.Y., was “very upset” upon hearing of the death. “There was an estrangement,” she said, adding that the Cagneys had not seen each other for two years or more. The elder Cagney recently ..., The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 31, 1984, August 25, 2010, October 18, 2018,nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PI&s_site=philly&p_multi=PI&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB29707206E0094&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D," title="web.archive.org/web/20181018122316nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PI&s_site=philly&p_multi=PI&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB29707206E0094&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D,">web.archive.org/web/20181018122316nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PI&s_site=philly&p_multi=PI&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB29707206E0094&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D, live, James III had become estranged from him, and they had not seen or talked to one another since 1982.NEWS, James Cagney’s Son Dies,www.nytimes.com/1984/02/02/us/james-cagney-s-son-dies.html, James F. Cagney Jr., the adopted son of the actor James Cagney, has died of a heart attack here. He was 42 years old. The elder Mr. Cagney and the son had been estranged for the last two years, but the actor was reported by his secretary to be very upset. The young Mr. Cagney, who was divorced, is survived by two children, James Cagney III and Cindy Cagney., The New York Times, February 2, 1984, August 25, 2010, March 16, 2014,www.nytimes.com/1984/02/02/us/james-cagney-s-son-dies.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20140316120052www.nytimes.com/1984/02/02/us/james-cagney-s-son-dies.html,">web.archive.org/web/20140316120052www.nytimes.com/1984/02/02/us/james-cagney-s-son-dies.html, live, Cagney’s daughter Cathleen was also estranged from her father during the final years of his life. She died on August 11, 2004.Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration.As a young man, Cagney became interested in farming – sparked by a soil conservation lecture he had attended – to the extent that during his first walkout from Warner Bros., he helped to found a {{convert|100|acre|km2|adj=on}} farm in Martha’s Vineyard.McCabe, pg 41Cagney, page 69 Cagney loved that no paved roads surrounded the property, only dirt tracks. The house was rather run-down and ramshackle, and Billie was initially reluctant to move in, but soon came to love the place as well. After being inundated by movie fans, Cagney sent out a rumor that he had hired a gunman for security. The ruse proved so successful that when Spencer Tracy came to visit, his taxi driver refused to drive up to the house, saying, “I hear they shoot!” Tracy had to go the rest of the way on foot.In 1955, having shot three films, Cagney bought a {{convert|120|acre|km2|adj=on}} farm in Stanfordville, Dutchess County, New York, for $100,000. Cagney named it Verney Farm, taking the first syllable from Billie’s maiden name and the second from his own surname. He turned it into a working farm, selling some of the dairy cattle and replacing them with beef cattle.Warren, page 195Cagney, page 176 He expanded it over the years to {{convert|750|acre|km2}}. Such was Cagney’s enthusiasm for agriculture and farming that his diligence and efforts were rewarded by an honorary degree from Florida’s Rollins College. Rather than just “turning up with Ava Gardner on my arm” to accept his honorary degree, Cagney turned the tables upon the college’s faculty by writing and submitting a paper on soil conservation.Cagney was born in 1899 (prior to the widespread use of automobiles) and loved horses from childhood. As a child, he often sat on the horses of local deliverymen and rode in horse-drawn streetcars with his mother. As an adult, well after horses were replaced by automobiles as the primary mode of transportation, Cagney raised horses on his farms, specializing in Morgans, a breed of which he was particularly fond.Cagney, page 175Cagney was a keen sailor and owned boats that were harbored on both coasts of the U.S.,Warren, pages 194–195 including the Swift of Ipswich.NEWS, Murray, Jo, ON THE WATER: Old Ship, Giant New Ship,www.gazettes.com/sports/on_the_water/on-the-water-old-ship-giant-new-ship/article_3e470bb0-1540-11ea-bcd6-5bce96781c71.html, www.Gazettes.com, en, March 16, 2021, September 30, 2020,web.archive.org/web/20200930162033/https://www.gazettes.com/sports/on_the_water/on-the-water-old-ship-giant-new-ship/article_3e470bb0-1540-11ea-bcd6-5bce96781c71.html, live, His joy in sailing, however, did not protect him from occasional seasickness—becoming ill, sometimes, on a calm day while weathering rougher, heavier seasCagney, page 174 at other times. Cagney greatly enjoyed painting,Warren, page 220 and claimed in his autobiography that he might have been happier, if somewhat poorer, as a painter than a movie star.Cagney, page 170 The renowned painter Sergei Bongart taught Cagney in his later life and owned two of Cagney’s works. Cagney often gave away his work but refused to sell his paintings, considering himself an amateur. He signed and sold only one painting, purchased by Johnny Carson to benefit a charity.

Political views

In his autobiography, Cagney said that as a young man, he had no political views, since he was more concerned with from where his next meal was coming.Cagney, page 183 However, the emerging labor movement of the 1920s and 1930s soon forced him to take sides. The first version of the National Labor Relations Act was passed in 1935, and growing tensions between labor and management fueled the movement. Fanzines in the 1930s, however, described his politics as “radical”.McGilligan, page 193This somewhat exaggerated view was enhanced by his public contractual wranglings with Warner Bros. at the time, his joining of the Screen Actors Guild in 1933, and his involvement in the revolt against the so-called “Merriam tax”. The “Merriam tax” was an underhanded method of funnelling studio funds to politicians; during the 1934 Californian gubernatorial campaign, the studio executives would “tax” their actors, automatically taking a day’s pay from their biggest earners, ultimately sending nearly half a million dollars to the gubernatorial campaign of Frank Merriam. Cagney (as well as Jean Harlow) publicly refused to payMcGilligan, page 192Cagney, pages 185–186 and Cagney even threatened that, if the studios took a day’s pay for Merriam’s campaign, he would give a week’s pay to Upton Sinclair, Merriam’s opponent in the race.BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=pn1CuZUHk9MC&q=merriam+tax+hollywood&pg=PA74, Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics, 9780199911431, Ross, Steven J., September 6, 2011, Oxford University Press, October 22, 2020, November 7, 2021,web.archive.org/web/20211107052821/https://books.google.com/books?id=pn1CuZUHk9MC&q=merriam+tax+hollywood&pg=PA74, live, He supported political activist and labor leader Thomas Mooney’s defense fund, but was repelled by the behavior of some of Mooney’s supporters at a rally. Around the same time, he gave money for a Spanish Republican Army ambulance during the Spanish Civil War, which he put down to being “a soft touch”. This donation enhanced his liberal reputation. He also became involved in a “liberal group...with a leftist slant,” along with Ronald Reagan. However, when he and Reagan saw the direction in which the group was heading, they resigned on the same night.Cagney, page 184File:James Cagney Humphrey Bogart in The Roaring Twenties trailer.jpg|left|thumb|Cagney and Humphrey Bogart in The Roaring TwentiesThe Roaring TwentiesCagney was accused of being a communist sympathizer in 1934, and again in 1940. The accusation in 1934 stemmed from a letter police found from a local Communist official that alleged that Cagney would bring other Hollywood stars to meetings. Cagney denied this, and Lincoln Steffens, husband of the letter’s writer, backed up this denial, asserting that the accusation stemmed solely from Cagney’s donation to striking cotton workers in the San Joaquin Valley. William Cagney claimed this donation was the root of the charges in 1940.McGilligan, page 194 Cagney was cleared by U.S. Representative Martin Dies Jr. on the House Un-American Activities Committee.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}}Cagney became president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1942 for a two-year term. He took a role in the Guild’s fight against the Mafia and the Chicago Outfit, which had been using the threat of strike action by mobbed-controlled labor union to extort protection money from Hollywood studios. His wife, Billie Vernon, once received a phone call telling her that Cagney had died in an automobile accident.Warren, page 166 According to Cagney, having failed to scare off the Guild and him, the Chicago Outfit allegedly sent a hitman to kill him by dropping a heavy light onto his head. Upon hearing of the rumor of a hit, George Raft made a call, and the contract was supposedly canceled.Cagney, page 108During World War II, Cagney raised money for war bonds by taking part in racing exhibitions at the Roosevelt Raceway and selling seats for the premiere of Yankee Doodle Dandy.Warren, page 155 He also let the United States Army practice maneuvers at his Martha’s Vineyard estate.McGilligan, page 195After the war, Cagney’s politics started to change. He had worked on Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidential campaigns, including the 1940 presidential election against Wendell Willkie. However, by the time of the 1948 election, he had become disillusioned with Harry S. Truman, and he voted for Thomas E. Dewey, his first non-Democratic vote.Cagney, page 185 He would also support Ronald Reagan in the 1966 California gubernatorial election.BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=QfHXAAAAQBAJ&q=james%20cagney, When Hollywood Was Right: How Movie Stars, Studio Moguls, and Big Business Remade American Politics, 9781107650282, Critchlow, Donald T., 2013, 191, Cambridge University Press, By 1980, Cagney was contributing financially to the Republican Party, supporting his friend Ronald Reagan’s bid for the presidency in the 1980 election.WEB,www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/James_Cagney.php,www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/James_Cagney.php," title="web.archive.org/web/20050406012855www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/James_Cagney.php,">web.archive.org/web/20050406012855www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/James_Cagney.php, dead, April 6, 2005, Campaign Contribution Search – James Cagney, Newsmeat, January 14, 2009, As he got older, Cagney even began referring to himself in his autobiography as “arch-conservative”. He regarded his move away from Marxism as “a totally natural reaction once I began to see undisciplined elements in our country stimulating a breakdown of our system... Those functionless creatures, the hippies ... just didn’t appear out of a vacuum.“Cagney, page 186

Death

(File:1 Cagney best 800 crop.jpg|right|thumb|200px|{{center|Cagney’s crypt}})Cagney died of a heart attack at his Dutchess County farm in Stanford, New York, on Easter Sunday 1986, aged 86. A funeral Mass was held at St. Francis de Sales Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan.WEB,articles.latimes.com/1986-04-01/news/mn-1516_1_james-cagney, Cagney Funeral Today to Be at His First Church, Los Angeles Times, April 1, 1986, August 15, 2012, December 8, 2012,articles.latimes.com/1986-04-01/news/mn-1516_1_james-cagney," title="web.archive.org/web/20121208101501articles.latimes.com/1986-04-01/news/mn-1516_1_james-cagney,">web.archive.org/web/20121208101501articles.latimes.com/1986-04-01/news/mn-1516_1_james-cagney, live, The eulogy was delivered by his close friend, Ronald Reagan, who was also the President of the United States at the time.WEB,www.sfdsnyc.org/james-cagney, Jimmy Cagney, Bahl, Mary, January 2008, St. Francis de Sales Church, December 17, 2016,www.sfdsnyc.org/james-cagney," title="web.archive.org/web/20161220162303www.sfdsnyc.org/james-cagney,">web.archive.org/web/20161220162303www.sfdsnyc.org/james-cagney, December 20, 2016, dead, His pallbearers included boxer Floyd Patterson, dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov (who had hoped to play Cagney on Broadway), actor Ralph Bellamy, and director MiloÅ¡ Forman. Governor Mario M. Cuomo and Mayor Edward I. Koch were also in attendance at the service.WEB,apnews.com/a23d9cb9664d6a422e27a7452cc23bdd, Cagney Remembered as America’s Yankee Doodle Dandy, AP NEWS, 2019-10-09, October 9, 2019,web.archive.org/web/20191009191545/https://apnews.com/a23d9cb9664d6a422e27a7452cc23bdd, live, Cagney was interred in a crypt in the Garden Mausoleum at Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven in Hawthorne, New York.NEWS, Brooks, Patricia, The Rich and Famous, at Rest in Eden,www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/nyregion/long-island/26Rburied.html, 12 June 2019, The New York Times, 2008-10-22, November 28, 2020,web.archive.org/web/20201128233837/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/nyregion/long-island/26Rburied.html, live,

Honors and legacy

Cagney won the Academy Award in 1943 for his performance as George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy.WEB,www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1943, oscars.org, 1943, August 30, 2019, May 2, 2019,web.archive.org/web/20190502001117/https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1943, live, For his contributions to the film industry, Cagney was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 with a motion pictures star located at 6504 Hollywood Boulevard.WEB,www.walkoffame.com/james-cagney, Hollywood Walk of Fame - James Cagney, walkoffame.com, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, February 1, 2018,www.walkoffame.com/james-cagney," title="web.archive.org/web/20160403074807www.walkoffame.com/james-cagney,">web.archive.org/web/20160403074807www.walkoffame.com/james-cagney, April 3, 2016, dead, WEB,projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/james-cagney/, Los Angeles Times - Hollywood Star Walk, Los Angeles Times, February 1, 2018, February 12, 2018,projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/james-cagney/," title="web.archive.org/web/20180212084927projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/james-cagney/,">web.archive.org/web/20180212084927projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/james-cagney/, live, In 1974, Cagney received the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award. Charlton Heston, in announcing that Cagney was to be honored, called him “one of the most significant figures of a generation when American film was dominant, Cagney, that most American of actors, somehow communicated eloquently to audiences all over the world ... and to actors as well.“WEB,www.afi.com/tvevents/laa/laa74.aspx, AFI Life Achievement Award: James Cagney, 2009-10-03,www.afi.com/tvevents/laa/laa74.aspx," title="web.archive.org/web/20091003183933www.afi.com/tvevents/laa/laa74.aspx,">web.archive.org/web/20091003183933www.afi.com/tvevents/laa/laa74.aspx, 2009-10-03, 2018-04-02, He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1980, and a Career Achievement Award from the U.S. National Board of Review in 1981.WEB,www.nationalboardofreview.org/award-years/1981/, 1981 Award Winners, 2016, National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, December 2, 2016, December 7, 2016,www.nationalboardofreview.org/award-years/1981/," title="web.archive.org/web/20161207025119www.nationalboardofreview.org/award-years/1981/,">web.archive.org/web/20161207025119www.nationalboardofreview.org/award-years/1981/, live, In 1984, Ronald Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.NEWS, Gadsden Times,news.google.com/newspapers?id=eNEfAAAAIBAJ&pg=3342%2C5059917, Actor Cagney tearfully accepts freedom medal, March 27, 1984, A8, September 15, 2020, November 7, 2021,web.archive.org/web/20211107052740/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=eNEfAAAAIBAJ&pg=3342%2C5059917, live, In 1999, the United States Postal Service issued a 33-cent stamp honoring Cagney.WEB, Stamp Series, United States Postal Service,beyondtheperf.com/stamp-series, September 2, 2013, dead,beyondtheperf.com/stamp-series," title="web.archive.org/web/20130810160707beyondtheperf.com/stamp-series,">web.archive.org/web/20130810160707beyondtheperf.com/stamp-series, August 10, 2013, Cagney was among the most favored actors for director Stanley Kubrick and actor Marlon Brando,BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=fU78LdDClHUC&pg=PA420, Stanley Kubrick: A Biography, Vincent, LoBrutto, April 1999, 978-0-306-80906-4, November 1, 2007, Da Capo Press, New York, {{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} and was considered by Orson Welles to be “maybe the greatest actor to ever appear in front of a camera.“EPISODE, Orson Welles,www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dAGcorF1Vo, Parkinson, Parkinson, Michael (host), BBC, 1974, 4, January 11, 2018, February 16, 2021,web.archive.org/web/20210216064954/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dAGcorF1Vo, live, Warner Bros. arranged private screenings of Cagney films for Winston Churchill.NEWS, French, Phillip, No 18: James Cagney 1899–1986, Philip French’s screen legends, The Observer, UK, June 1, 2008,film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2283236,00.html, October 17, 2008, June 1, 2008,film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2283236,00.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20080601195825film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2283236,00.html,">web.archive.org/web/20080601195825film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2283236,00.html, live, On May 19, 2015, a new musical celebrating Cagney, and dramatizing his relationship with Warner Bros., opened off-Broadway in New York City at the York Theatre.WEB,www.yorktheatre.org/cagney.html, Cagney – The York Theatre Company, yorktheatre.org, June 13, 2015, June 17, 2015,www.yorktheatre.org/cagney.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20150617035252www.yorktheatre.org/cagney.html,">web.archive.org/web/20150617035252www.yorktheatre.org/cagney.html, live, Cagney, The Musical then moved to the Westside Theatre until May 28, 2017.WEB,www.broadway.com/buzz/187813/off-broadway-musical-cagney-to-end-run-at-westside-theatre-is-broadway-next/, Off-Broadway Musical Cagney to End Run at Westside Theatre; Is Broadway Next?, Broadway.com, en, 2019-03-03, March 6, 2019,web.archive.org/web/20190306044520/https://www.broadway.com/buzz/187813/off-broadway-musical-cagney-to-end-run-at-westside-theatre-is-broadway-next/, live, WEB,www.playbill.com/article/off-broadways-cagney-ends-run-may-28, Off-Broadway’s Cagney Ends Run May 28, May 28, 2017, July 5, 2019, July 5, 2019,www.playbill.com/article/off-broadways-cagney-ends-run-may-28," title="web.archive.org/web/20190705041025www.playbill.com/article/off-broadways-cagney-ends-run-may-28,">web.archive.org/web/20190705041025www.playbill.com/article/off-broadways-cagney-ends-run-may-28, live,

Filmography{| class“wikitable”

style="background:#B0C4DE;“! Year! Film! Role! Notes1930|Sinners’ Holiday|Harry Delano|Film debut| The Doorway to Hell|Steve Mileaway| 1931|Blonde Crazy|Bert Harris|Smart Money (1931 film)>Smart Money|Jack|The only film starring both Edward G. Robinson and CagneyThe Millionaire (1931 film)>The Millionaire|Schofield, Insurance Salesman||The Public Enemy|Tom Powers|The movie along with his character and voice was used in The Great Movie Ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios|Other Men’s Women|Ed “Eddie” Bailey|Originally Titled: “The Steel Highway”1932Winner Take All (1932 film)>Winner Take All|Jim “Jimmy” Kane|Boxing filmThe Crowd Roars (1932 film)>The Crowd Roars|Joe Greer|Automobile racing film| Taxi!|Matt Nolan| 1933Lady Killer (1933 film)>Lady Killer|Dan Quigley|| Footlight Parade|Chester Kent|Musical film with dancing; like The Public Enemy, this film was also featured in The Great Movie Ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios| The Mayor of Hell|Richard “Patsy” Gargan|| Picture Snatcher|Danny Kean|Newspaper photographerHard to Handle (film)>Hard to Handle|Myron C. “Lefty” Merrill| 1934| The St. Louis Kid|Eddie Kennedy|| Here Comes the Navy|Chester “Chesty” J. O’Conner|| He Was Her Man|Flicker Hayes, a.k.a. Jerry Allen|Jimmy the Gent (film)>Jimmy the Gent|“Jimmy” Corrigan|The first of two films with Bette Davis 1935A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935 film)>A Midsummer Night’s Dream|Nick Bottom|| The Irish in Us|Danny O’Hara|| G Men|“Brick” Davis|| Devil Dogs of the Air|Thomas Jefferson “Tommy” O’Toole||Frisco Kid|Bat Morgan| 1936| Great Guy|Johnny “Red” Cave|| Ceiling Zero|Dizzy Davis|| 1937Something to Sing About (1937 film)>Something to Sing About|Terrence “Terry” Rooney|stage name of Thadeus McGillicuddy 1938| Angels with Dirty Faces|Rocky Sullivan|New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorNominated – Academy Award for Best ActorBoy Meets Girl (1938 film)>Boy Meets Girl|Robert Law| 1939| The Roaring Twenties|Eddie Bartlett|| Each Dawn I Die|Frank Ross|| The Oklahoma Kid|Jim Kincaid| 1940| City for Conquest|Danny Kenny (Young Samson)|| Torrid Zone|Nick “Nicky” Butler|| The Fighting 69th|Jerry Plunkett| 1941| The Bride Came C.O.D.|Steve Collins|| The Strawberry Blonde|T. L. “Biff” Grimes| 1942| Yankee Doodle Dandy|George M. Cohan|Academy Award for Best ActorNew York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor| Captains of the Clouds|Brian MacLean|| 1943| Johnny Come Lately|Tom Richards|| 1945| Blood on the Sun|Nick Condon|| 1947|13 Rue Madeleine|Robert Emmett “Bob” Sharkey a.k.a. Gabriel Chavat|| 1948The Time of Your Life (film)>The Time of Your Life|Joseph T. (who observes people)|| 1949| White Heat|Arthur “Cody” Jarrett| 1950The West Point Story (film)>The West Point Story|Elwin “Bix” Bixby|Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (film)>Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye|Ralph Cotter|| 1951| Come Fill the Cup|Lew Marsh|| 1952What Price Glory? (1952 film)>What Price Glory?|Capt. Flagg|| 1953| A Lion Is in the Streets|Hank Martin| 1955Mister Roberts (1955 film)>Mister Roberts|Capt. Morton|| The Seven Little Foys|George M. Cohan|Love Me or Leave Me (film)>Love Me or Leave Me|Martin Snyder|Nominated – Academy Award for Best ActorRun for Cover (film)>Run for Cover|Matt Dow| 1956| These Wilder Years|Steve Bradford|| Tribute to a Bad Man|Jeremy Rodock| 1957Man of a Thousand Faces (film)>Man of a Thousand Faces|Lon Chaney|| Short Cut to Hell|Himself in the Pre-Credit Scene (Uncredited)|Director only 1959| Never Steal Anything Small|Jake MacIllaney|Shake Hands with the Devil (1959 film)>Shake Hands with the Devil|Sean Lenihan| 1960| The Gallant Hours|Admiral William F. “Bull” Halsey|| 1961| One, Two, Three|C.R. MacNamaraLaurel Award>Laurel Award for Top Male Comedy PerformanceNominated — New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor 1968| Arizona Bushwhackers|Narrator|| 1981Ragtime (film)>RagtimeRhinelander Waldo>Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo style@background:#B0C4DE;“”>

Television{| class“wikitable” style@background:#B0C4DE;”

! Year! Show! Role! Notes1956|Soldier from the Wars Returning| George Bridgeman| Aired on NBC on September 10, 1956, in the first episode of Season 6 of Robert Montgomery Presents1960|What’s My Line?| Mystery GuestWEBSITE=IMDB ARCHIVE-DATE=NOVEMBER 7, 2021 URL-STATUS=LIVE, 1966|The Ballad of Smokey the Bear| Big Bear/NarratorWEBSITE = IMDBACCESS-DATE = JANUARY 2, 2021ARCHIVE-URL = HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20210509193205/HTTPS://WWW.IMDB.COM/TITLE/TT0331187/, live, 1974|AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to James Cagney’’|Honoree/Keynote Speaker1984|Terrible Joe Moran|Joe Moran (Final role)“>

Radio appearances{| class“wikitable”

! Year !! Program !! Episode/sourceThe Screen Guild Theater>Screen Guild Players Yankee Doodle DandyPLAYERS TO OPEN SEASON WITH ‘YANKEE DOODLE DANDY’>NEWSPAPER=HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH AGENCY=HARRISBURG TELEGRAPHPAGE=19NEWSPAPERS.COM>ACCESS-DATE=MAY 28, 2015ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20160110091839/HTTPS://WWW.NEWSPAPERS.COM/CLIP/2520911/HARRISBURG_TELEGRAPH/, live, {{Open access}}Suspense (radio drama)>Suspense Love’s Lovely CounterfeitSUSPENSE: LOVE’S LOVELY COUNTERFEIT (RADIO) >URL=HTTPS://WWW.PALEYCENTER.ORG/COLLECTION/ITEM/?Q=RADIO&P=251&ITEM=R88:0065 ACCESS-DATE=JULY 8, 2020 ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20200709003344/HTTPS://WWW.PALEYCENTER.ORG/COLLECTION/ITEM/?Q=RADIO&P=251&ITEM=R88:0065, live, {{Open access}}Suspense (radio drama)>Suspense No EscapeSUSPENSE - NO ESCAPE >URL=HTTPS://WWW.ESCAPE-SUSPENSE.COM/2010/12/SUSPENSE-NO-ESCAPE.HTML DATE=DECEMBER 19, 2010 ARCHIVE-DATE=JULY 9, 2020 URL-STATUS=LIVE, {{Open access}}Family Theater >The Red HeadKIRBYTITLE=BETTER RADIO PROGRAMS FOR THE WEEKURL=HTTPS://WWW.NEWSPAPERS.COM/CLIP/2520492/THE_DECATUR_DAILY_REVIEW/DATE=FEBRUARY 24, 1952VIA=NEWSPAPERS.COMARCHIVE-DATE=AUGUST 15, 2018URL-STATUS=LIVE, {{Open access}}

References

Notes

{{Reflist}}

Bibliography

• BOOK, Cagney, James, Cagney by Cagney, 2005, 1976, Doubleday (publisher), Doubleday, 0-385-52026-3,
• BOOK, James, Florence, Fists Upon a Star: A Memoir of Love, Theater, and Escape from McCarthyism, 2013, University of Regina Press, 9780889772601, 44–46,www.uofrpress.ca/publications/Fists-Upon-a-Star,www.uofrpress.ca/publications/Fists-Upon-a-Star," title="web.archive.org/web/20131005021548www.uofrpress.ca/publications/Fists-Upon-a-Star,">web.archive.org/web/20131005021548www.uofrpress.ca/publications/Fists-Upon-a-Star, dead, 2013-10-05,
• WEB,www.imagesjournal.com/issue03/infocus/stars7.htm, Some Historical Reflections on the Paradoxes of Stardom in the American Film Industry, 1910–1960: Part Six, March 3, 2008, Gallagher, Brian,
• BOOK, McCabe, John, John McCabe (writer), Cagney, Paperback, 2002, Aurum Press, London, 1-85410-833-6,
• BOOK, McGilligan, Patrick, Patrick McGilligan (biographer), Cagney: The Actor as Auteur, Alfred Smith Barnes, A. S. Barnes and Co., Inc., 1975, New York, 0-498-01462-2,
• BOOK, Warren, Doug, Cagney, James, Cagney: The Authorized Biography, 1983, Mass Market, 1986, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 0-312-90207-7,

External links

{{Commons}}

• {{IBDB name}}
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• {{Rotten Tomatoes person}}
• FBI Records: The Vault - James Cagney at fbi.gov
• Photographs and literature
• James Cagney in the 1900 US Census {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419083257familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.2/1BKS-9S2/p_64457929 |date=April 19, 2012 }}, 1905 NY Census {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419083419familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.2/SMJP-L61/p_2029787556 |date=April 19, 2012 }}, 1910 US Census {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419083502familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.2/9298-WWT/p_588568820 |date=April 19, 2012 }}, 1920 US Census {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419083555familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.2/MNH8-63C/p_436464677 |date=April 19, 2012 }}, 1930 US Census {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419083806familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.2/1YRS-R67/p_10392391982 |date=April 19, 2012 }}, and the Social Security Death Index {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419083957familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.2/8XK5-ZPZ/p_12933212303 |date=April 19, 2012 }}.

{{Navboxes| title = Awards for James Cagney| list ={{AcademyAwardBestActor 1941–1960}}{{AFI Life Achievement Award}}{{Hasty Pudding Man of the Year}}{{Kennedy Center Honorees 1980s}}{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor}}{{ScreenActorsGuildAward LifeAchievement 1960–1979}}}}{{SAG Presidents}}{{Authority control}}{{Good article}}