JAMES CAGNEY
Birth Name: James Francis Cagney, Jr.
Born: July 17, 1899, New York, NY
Died: March 30, 1986, Stanfordville, NY
The American gangster film, and the output of Warner Bros. in its most influential
decade, would be unimaginable without the contributions of James Cagney. One of talking
pictures' first generation of actors, Cagney forever romanticized the figures of the
criminal and the con artist with his jittery physical dynamism and breakneck staccato
vocal patterns.
Raised in New York City's tough Yorkville neighborhood, Cagney was a veteran of settlement
house revues, vaudeville and five years of Broadway when he came to Warner Bros. in 1930.
Cagney, Bette Davis and Edward G. Robinson, all signed to longterm contracts during this
period, became the core of the studio's stock company, which also included character and
supporting players such as Alan Jenkins and Frank McHugh. After playing several featured
roles Cagney attained instant and lasting fame with his role as vicious gunman Tom Powers
in William Wellman's THE PUBLIC ENEMY (1931).
THE PUBLIC ENEMY's story of a wisecracking hood who seemed to delight in violence
indelibly stamped the gangster genre. Along with LITTLE CAESAR (1930) and I AM A FUGITIVE
FROM A CHAIN GANG (1932), the picture cemented Warner Bros.' position as a major studio.
Between 1930 and 1941, Cagney made 38 films at Warner Bros. While most were crime and
action dramas or comedies, quickly produced on modest budgets and featuring few other
box-office "names," many have become genre classics. Several, including ANGELS
WITH DIRTY FACES (1938) and THE ROARING TWENTIES (1939), remain seminal works in American
film history. Cagney reached a creative peak with YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942), a biopic
based on the life of composer George M. Cohan. A sentimental masterpiece, the film drew on
Cagney's prodigious singing and dancing talents, previously unexploited at Warner Bros.,
and brought him the Academy Award for best actor.
A series of well-publicized salary disputes at Warner Bros. led to Cagney's forming an
independent production company, Cagney Productions. Headed by James and his brother
William, a former actor, the firm was based on terms developed in James's last Warner
Bros. contract and gave him unprecedented leeway in choosing vehicles and participating in
profits. It proved a failure, releasing only three films through United Artists, but was
nevertheless a path-breaking model which many others in the industry would soon follow.
In 1949 Cagney made an explosive return to Warner Bros. in the Raoul Walsh-directed WHITE
HEAT, playing Cody Jarrett, a violent, Freudianized update of the Tom Powers character in
THE PUBLIC ENEMY. Like the earlier film, WHITE HEAT was both profitable and enormously
influential.
Throughout the 1950s Cagney played sardonic and often villainous characters for several
studios, in films occasionally produced by Cagney Productions. The decade also saw his
only directing assignment, SHORT CUT TO HELL (1957), and his last musical, the delightful
NEVER STEAL ANYTHING SMALL (1959). After a bravura performance in Billy Wilder's ironic
farce ONE, TWO, THREE (1961), Cagney retired. The following years saw him receive many
honors, including the 1974 Life Achievement Award of the American Film Institute—the
second such award ever given. His good friend and neighbor, director Miloš Forman,
lured him from retirement for RAGTIME (1981), but Cagney's own desires to perform again
were hampered by increasing ill health. He made only one more appearance before his death,
the made-for-TV movie TERRIBLE JOE MORAN (1984).
**Combined filmography
- Terrible Joe Moran
(1984) (TV)[Actor .... Joe Moran]
- "James
Cagney: That Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1981) TV Series[Actor ....
Himself]
- Ragtime (1981)[Actor ....
Rheinlander Waldo]
- Salute to James
Cagney, A (1974) (TV)[Actor .... Himself]
... aka 2nd American Film Institute Life Achievement Award: A Salute to James Cagney
(1974) (TV)
- Arizona Bushwhackers
(1968)[Actor .... Narrator]
- One, Two, Three (1961)[Actor
.... C.R. MacNamara]
- Gallant Hours, The (1960)[Actor
.... Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey Jr.] [Producer]
- Never Steal
Anything Small (1959)[Actor .... Jake MacIllaney]
- Shake Hands with
the Devil (1959)[Actor .... Sean Lenihan]
- Man of a Thousand
Faces (1957)[Actor .... Lon Chaney]
- Short Cut to Hell (1957)[Director]
- These Wilder Years (1956)[Actor
.... Steve Bradford]
- Tribute to a Bad Man
(1956)[Actor .... Jeremy Rodock]
- Love Me or Leave Me (1955)[Actor
.... Martin "The Gimp" Snyder]
- Seven Little Foys, The
(1955)[Actor .... George M. Cohan]
- Mister Roberts (1955)[Actor
.... The Captain]
- Run for Cover (1955)[Actor
.... Matt Dow]
... aka Colorado (1962) (USA: reissue title)
- Lion Is in the
Streets, A (1953)[Actor .... Hank Martin]
- What Price Glory (1952)[Actor
.... Captain Flagg]
- Come Fill the Cup (1951)[Actor
.... Lew Marsh]
- Starlift (1951)[Actor ....
Himself]
- West Point Story, The
(1950)[Actor .... Elwin 'Bix' Bixby]
... aka Fine and Dandy (1950)
- Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
(1950)[Actor .... Ralph Cotter]
- White Heat (1949)[Actor ....
Cody Jarrett]
- Time of Your Life, The
(1948)[Actor .... Joe]
- 13 Rue Madeleine (1946)[Actor
.... Bob Sharkey]
- Blood on the Sun (1945)[Actor
.... Nick Condon]
- Battle Stations (1944)[Actor
.... Narrator]
- You, John Jones (1943)[Actor
.... John Jones]
- Johnny Come Lately (1943)[Actor
.... Tom Richards]
... aka Johnny Vagabond (1943) (UK)
- Show Business at War
(1943)[Actor .... Himself]
... aka March of Time Volume IX, Issue 10, The (1943)
- Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)[Actor
.... George M. Cohan]
- Captains of the Clouds
(1942)[Actor .... Brian MacLean]
- Bride Came C.O.D., The
(1941)[Actor .... Steve Collins]
- Strawberry Blonde, The
(1941)[Actor .... T. L. "Biff" Grimes]
- City for Conquest (1940)[Actor
.... Danny Kenny]
- Fighting 69th, The (1940)[Actor
.... Jerry Plunkett]
- Torrid Zone (1940)[Actor ....
Nick Butler]
- Each Dawn I Die (1939)[Actor
.... Frank Ross]
... aka Killer Meets Killer (1939)
- Oklahoma Kid, The (1939)[Actor
.... Jim Kincaid]
- Roaring Twenties, The
(1939)[Actor .... Eddie Bartlett]
- Angels with Dirty
Faces (1938)[Actor .... Rocky Sullivan]
- Boy Meets Girl (1938)[Actor
.... Robert Law]
- Something to Sing
About (1937)[Actor .... Terry Rooney]
... aka Battling Hoofer (1937)
- Great Guy (1936)[Actor ....
Johnny Cave]
... aka Pluck of the Irish (1936) (UK)
- Frisco Kid (1935)[Actor ....
Bat Morgan]
- Mutiny on the Bounty
(1935)[Actor .... Extra]
- Irish in Us, The (1935)[Actor
.... Danny O'Hara]
- 'G' Men (1935)[Actor ....
James "Brick" Davis]
- Ceiling Zero (1935)[Actor
.... Dizzy Davis]
- Devil Dogs of the Air
(1935)[Actor .... Timmy O'Toole]
- Dream Comes True, A (1935)[Actor
.... Himself]
- Midsummer Night's
Dream, A (1935)[Actor .... Bottom]
- Here Comes the Navy (1934)[Actor
.... Chester "Chesty" J. O'Conner]
- He Was Her Man (1934)[Actor
.... Flicker Hayes, aka Jerry Allen]
- Jimmy the Gent (1934)[Actor
.... Jimmy Corrigan]
- St. Louis Kid, The (1934)[Actor
.... Eddie Kennedy]
... aka Perfect Weekend, A (1934)
... aka Weekend Perfect, A (1934)
- Mayor of Hell, The (1933)[Actor
.... Patsy Gargan]
- Footlight Parade (1933)[Actor
.... Chester Kent]
- Hard to Handle (1933)[Actor
.... Lefty Merrill]
- Lady Killer (1933)[Actor ....
Dan Quigley]
- Picture Snatcher (1933)[Actor
.... Danny Kean]
- Winner Take All (1932)[Actor
.... Jim Kane]
- Crowd Roars, The (1932)[Actor
.... Joe Greer]
- Taxi! (1932)[Actor .... Matt
Nolan]
- Blonde Crazy (1931)[Actor
.... Bert Harris]
... aka Larceny Lane (1931) (UK)
- Smart Money (1931)[Actor ....
Jack]
- Public Enemy, The (1931)[Actor
.... Tom Powers]
... aka Enemies of the Public (1931)
- Millionaire, The (1931)[Actor
.... Schofield, Insurance Salesman]
- Other Men's Women (1931)[Actor
.... Ed]
... aka Steel Highway, The (1931)
- Doorway to Hell, The
(1930)[Actor .... Steve Mileaway]
... aka Handful of Clouds, A (1930)
- Sinner's Holiday (1930)[Actor
.... Harry Delano]
... aka Women in Love (1930)
Sounds
Articles
Pics
*Biography from Baseline's Encyclopedia of Film
**Filmography From Internet Movie Database