James Cagney
James Cagney | |
|---|---|
Cagney, c. 1930 | |
| Born | James Francis Cagney July 17, 1899 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | March 30, 1986 (aged 86) Stanford, New York, U.S. |
| Resting place | Gate of Heaven Cemetery |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1919–1961; 1981, 1984 |
| Political party | Democratic (1934–1948) Republican (1948–1986) |
| Spouse |
Frances Willard Vernon
(m. 1922) |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | William Cagney (brother) Jeanne Cagney (sister) |
| President of the Screen Actors Guild | |
| In office 1942–1944 | |
| Preceded by | Edward Arnold |
| Succeeded by | George Murphy |
James Francis Cagney Jr. (/ˈkæɡni/;[1] July 17, 1899 – March 30, 1986)[2] was an American actor and dancer. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances.[3]
Cagney is remembered for playing multifaceted tough guys in films such as The Public Enemy (1931), Taxi! (1932), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), The Roaring Twenties (1939), City for Conquest (1940) and White Heat (1949), finding himself typecast in the early years of his career.[4] He was able to negotiate dancing opportunities in his films and ended up winning the Academy Award for his role of George M. Cohan in the musical Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942).[5] In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth on its list of greatest male stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood.[6] Orson Welles described him as "maybe the greatest actor who ever appeared in front of a camera".[7]
After making his debut in 1919, he spent several years in vaudeville as a dancer and comedian and played his first major acting role in 1925. Al Jolson was sufficiently impressed by his performance in 1929's Penny Arcade that he bought the rights to it, securing Cagney's part in the Warner Bros. adaptation of the play. This marked the beginning of a lengthy, albeit turbulent association with the studio.
Cagney's fifth film, The Public Enemy, became one of the most influential gangster movies of the period. He became one of Hollywood's leading stars and one of Warner Bros.' biggest contracts at the time. 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. 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. He came out of retirement 20 years later for a part in the movie Ragtime (1981), mainly to aid his recovery from a stroke.[8]
Cagney walked out on Warner Bros. twice 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 signed with Edward L. Alperson's independent company Grand National Pictures. In 1942, he established his own production company, Cagney Productions, before returning to Warner seven years later. In reference to Cagney's refusal to be pushed around, Jack L. Warner called him "the Professional Againster".[9] Cagney also made numerous USO troop tours before and during World War II and served as president of the Screen Actors Guild for two years.[10]
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011). Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John (eds.). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
auteur14was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Speck, Gregory (June 1986). "From Tough Guy to Dandy: James Cagney". The World and I. Vol. 1. p. 319. Archived from the original on February 22, 2008. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
- ^ McGilligan, page 11
- ^ "Academy Awards Best Actor". FilmSite. Archived from the original on January 28, 2013. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
- ^ "America's Greatest Legends" (PDF). AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars. American Film Institute. 2005. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 20, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
- ^ FilmKunst (June 29, 2013). "Orson Welles - Interview with Michael Parkinson (BBC 1974)". YouTube. Archived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
- ^ White, Timothy (February 18, 1982). "James Cagney: Looking Backward". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on September 23, 2017. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
- ^ James L. Neibaur, James Cagney Films of the 1930s (London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014), xi. ISBN 1442242205
- ^ 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