James Cagney

James Cagney
in the trailer for the film Love Me or Leave Me (1955)
Born	James Francis Cagney Jr.
Years active	1930 - 1981
Spouse	Frances Cagney (1922-1986)
Awards	NYFCC Award for Best Actor 1938 Angels with Dirty Faces 1942 Yankee Doodle Dandy AFI Life Achievement Award 1974 Lifetime Achievement

James Francis Cagney Jr. (July 17, 1899 – March 30, 1986) was an Academy Award-winning American film actor who won acclaim for a wide variety of roles, including the career-launching The Public Enemy, and won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1942 for his role in Yankee Doodle Dandy.

Like James Stewart, Cagney became so familiar to audiences that they usually referred to him as "Jimmy" Cagney — a billing never found on any of his films.

In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Cagney eighth among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time.

Early life

Cagney was born on the Lower East Side, New York above his father's saloon on the corner of Avenue D and 8th Street to James Cagney Sr., an Irish American bartender and amateur boxer, and Carolyn Nelson; his maternal grandfather was a Norwegian ship captain while his maternal grandmother was an Irish American. The family moved twice when Cagney was still young, first to East Seventy-Ninth Street, and then to East Ninety-Sixth Street. Cagney was the second of seven children, two of whom died within months of birth; Cagney himself had been very sick as a young child, so much so that his mother feared he would die before being christened, all of which was a product of the level of poverty that they grew up in. All the children were raised Catholic, all receiving Holy Communion and all being Confirmed.

The red-haired, blue-eyed Cagney graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York City in 1918 and attended, for a single semester, Columbia College of Columbia University , where he took German and intended to major in Art and considered himself an art student, as well as joining the Student Army Training Corps. He dropped out and returned home on the death of his father in a flu epidemic.

He had a range of jobs early in his life, all contributing to the family fund: junior architect, copy boy for the New York Sun, book custodian at the New York Public Library, bellhop, draughtsman and a night doorman. Cagney believed in hard work: "It was good for me. I feel sorry for the kid who has too cushy a time of it. Suddenly he has to come to face-to-face with the realities of life without any mama or papa to do his thinking for him"

He started tap dancing as a boy (a skill that would eventually contribute to his Academy Award) and was nicknamed 'Cellar-Door Cagney' after his habit of dancing on slanted cellar doors. He was also a good street fighter, fighting on his older med-student brother Harry's behalf when necessary and taking on all-comers as necessary, as well as boxing as an amateur, including a runner-up in the New York State lightweight title. He was good enough for his coaches to encourage him to turn professional, though his mother would not let him. He also played semi-professional baseball for a local side, and indeed was good enough to harbour dreams of playing in the Major Leagues

His introduction to movies was unusual; when visiting an aunt in Brooklyn who lived opposite Vitagraph Studios, Cagney would climb over the fence to watch the filming of John Bunny films. He also became involved in amateur dramatics, starting as a scenery boy for a Chinese pantomime at the London Hill Settlement House, where his brother Harry was on-stage. He was quite happy working behind the scenes, he had no interest in performing. One night, however, he stood in for his brother Harry who had been taken ill. James was not an understudy, but his photographic memory of rehearsals allowed him to stand in for his brother without making a mistake. After that he joined as a performer, he performed in a variety of roles for a number of companies.

Early Career 1919 - 1930

While working at Wanamaker's Department Store in 1919 Cagney learned (from a work colleague who had already seen him dance) of a role in the upcoming Every Sailor based on Every Woman, a war-time play in which the chorus is made up of service-men dressed as women. Cagney auditioned for the role of a chorus-girl, despite considering it a waste of time because he only knew one dance step (the Peabody), a complicated step which he knew perfectly. However, the step was enough to convince that he could dance, copying other dancers moves while waiting to go on. He didn't find it odd, nor was he embarrassed at playing a woman on stage, and recalled later how he was able to shed his own natural shy persona when he stepped onto the stage:

For there [on stage] I am not myself. I am not that fellow, Jim Cagney, at all. I certainly lost all conciousness of him when I put on skirts, wig, paint, powder, feathers and spangles.

Had 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 felt it better that he get an education. Cagney though appreciated the money, $35 a week, "A mountain of money for me in those worrisome days." In deference to his mother's worries, he got yet another job, this time as a brokerage house runner. This didn't stop him looking for more stage work though, and he went on and successfully auditioned for a chorus part in Pitter Patter, for which he earned $55 a week, of which he sent $40 a week back to his mother. So strong was his habit of working more than one job at a time, he also acted as a dresser for one of the leads, portering the casts' luggage and understudying the lead. Amongst the chorus line was 16 year-old Frances Willard 'Billie' Vernon, who he would marry in 1922. The show began a 10 year association with vaudeville and Broadway.

Pitter Patter was not hugely successful, but did well enough to run for 32 weeks and allowed Cagney to join the vaudeville circuit. Cagney and Vernon toured separately with a number of different troops, reuniting as Vernon and Nye to do simple comedy routines and musical numbers. The Nye was a rearrangement of the last syllable of Cagney's surname. One of the troops that Cagney would join was Parker, Rand and Leach when Leach left. Leach was Archie Leach, who went on to fame as Cary Grant.

After more years of touring, performing and struggling to make money to live and survive, in 1924 they moved to Hawthorne, California, partly for Cagney to meet his new mother-in-law who had just moved there from Chicago and to investigate breaking into the movies. Their train fares were paid for by a friend of theirs, the press officer of Pitter Patter who was desperate to break into acting and felt that Hollywood was the place to do it. They didn't have a lot of success; Cagney's dance studio had few clients and folded, he and Vernon toured the studios but could get no interest. Eventually they borrowed some money and headed back to New York and vaudeville (via Chicago and Milwaukee and repeated failures to make money on the stage ).

1925 saw Cagney secure his first significant non dancing role. Significantly, he played a young tough guy in the three act play by Maxwell Anderson, Outside Looking In, earning him $200 a week. As with Pitter Patter, Cagney went to the audition with little confidence of getting the part; this was drama, not vaudeville. Cagney felt that he only got the part of 'Little Red' as he was one of the two red-headed performers in New York, and assumed he got the part because his hair was redder than Alan Bunce's. Nevertheless, the play generally, and Cagney in particular 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 that it "contained the most honest acting now to be seen in New York".

After the four month run ended, Cagney went back to vaudeville for the next couple of years, again with varied success, but off the back of Outside Looking In the Cagney's were much better able to pay their bills. During this period, Cagney met George M. Cohen, whom he would go on to portray in Yankee Doodle Dandy, though they never actually spoke..

Cagney secured the lead role in the 1926-27 season West End production of Broadway by George Abbott. However, the show's management insisted that Cagney copied Lee Tracy, the Broadway lead's performance but was uncomfortable in trying to do so. The day before the show sailed for England, however, the management decided that Cagney should be replaced. This was a devastating turn of events for Cagney. Apart from the logistical difficulties this turn of events presented (their luggage was in the hold of the ship and they had given up their apartment), he almost quit showbusiness, Billie recalling:

Jimmy said that it was all over. He made up his mind that he would get a job doing something else."

Fortunately for the Cagneys (Billie was in the chorus line of the show), they had run-of-the-play contracts, and with help from the Actors Equity Association, Cagney took up the understudy role to Tracy on the Broadway show, providing them with a desperately needed steady income. Cagney also set-up a dance school for professionals to expand their skills. He then picked up another role in the play Women Go On Forever, directed by John Cromwell that ran for four months. By the end of the run, Cagney was exhausted after both acting and running the dance school.

However, he had built up a reputation as an innovative teacher, and so when he was cast as the lead in Grand Street Follies of 1928 he also was appointed the choreographer, and the show got rave reviews. This was followed by Grand Street Follies of 1929.

These led onto a part in George Kelly's Maggie the Magnificent, a play not liked by the critics, although Cagney's performance was. Cagney saw this role, (and Women Go on Forever) as significant because of the talent that directed them, he learnt

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

Playing opposite Cagney in Maggie the Magnificent was Joan Blondell, and the two were reunited a few months later in Marie Baumer's new play Penny Arcade , a show that would change Cagney's life forever, and ensure that he would never know poverty again.

Warner Bros. Part One 1931 - 1935

Whilst the critics did not take to Penny Arcade, Cagney and Blondell were both highly praised. Al Jolson, sensing a potential film success, bought the rights $20,000 and sold the play to Warner Brothers with the stipulation that Cagney and Blondell be cast in the film version, which became Sinners' Holiday and was released in 1930. Cagney was given a $500 a week, three week contract. Cagney's character, Harry Delano, is a tough guy who ends up a killer, but generates sympathy because of his upbringing, and so Cagney's first screen role highlighted a trait that would continue through his career, that of sympathy for the 'bad' guy. Cagney would also demonstrate the stubbornness that would also characterise his career during filming; arguing 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.

Despite this outburst, the studio liked him, and before his three week contract was up and whilst shooting was still going on on the film, they gave Cagney a three week extension and then a full seven year contract at $400 a week. It was not all great for Cagney however; the contract allowed Warner to drop him at the end of any 40 week period, effectively guaranteeing him 40 weeks income and after that there would be no further guarantees. As when he was growing up, Cagney shared his money around his family.

With the good reviews that Cagney received, he immediately stared in another gangster role in Doorway to Hell which was a financial hit, helping cement Cagney's growing reputation. He made four more movies before his breakthrough role.

Warner Brothers succession of gangster movie hits, in particular Edward G. Robinson's Little Caesar, and Cagney's strong reviews in gangster movies in his short film career came together in the 1931 film The Public Enemy. Cagney was cast to play the nice-guy Matt Doyle, opposite Eddie Woods' Tom Powers. However, after the inital rushes, the two were swapped.. The film was low budget, costing only $151,000 to make, but went on to gross over $1million, one of the first low budget films to do so.

If the quality of the film itself was not realised until much later, Cagney's performance certainly was. The New York Herald Tribune described Cagney's performance as "the most ruthless, unsentimental appraisal of the meanness of a petty killer the cinema has yet devised." Cagney received top billing for the film and whilst he acknowledged the importance of the role to his career, he always disputed that the role changed the way heroes and leading men were portrayed, citing Clark Gable's slapping of Barbara Stanwyck six months earlier as more important.

Cagney's stubbornness was starting to become well known behind the scenes, not least after his refusal to join in a 100% participation charity drive that was being pushed by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.. Donating money to charity wasn't the issue, being forced to was. Already he had acquired the nickname The Professional Againster.

Warners were quick to combine their two rising 'gangster' stars in Cagney and Robinson for Cagney's next film (for which he received second billing) Smart Money in 1931. So keen were the studio to follow up the success of Robinson's Little Caesar that Cagney actual shot Smart Money at the same time as The Public Enemy. As in The Public Enemy, Cagney is required to be physically violent to a woman, this time slapping co-star Evalyn Knapp, a signal that Warners were keen to keep Cagney in the public eye.

The introduction of the United States Motion Picture Production Code of 1930, and particularly its edicts on on-screen violence. Warners decided to allow Cagney a change of pace, and so cast him in the comedy Blonde Crazy, again opposite Jean Blondell.

As he completed filming of his comedy, The Public Enemy was filling cinemas with all-night showings and Cagney began to compare his pay with his peers, thinking his contract allowed for salary adjustments based on the success of his films. Warners disagreed, however, and refused to a pay rise, and also insisted that Cagney continued promoting studio films, even the ones he wasn't in, something he was opposed to. Cagney however wasn't prepared to be pushed around, and packed his trunks, left his apartment to his brother Bill to look after and went back to New York with Billie.

While the Cagneys were in New York, brother Bill, who had effectively become James' agent, started talks with the studio about a substantial pay rise and more personal freedom. Warner's hand was forced by the success of Blonde Crazy, and they eventurally offered Cagney an improved contract of $1000 a week.

His first film on his return from New York as the 1932 film Taxi!, a significant film for two reasons: it was the first time that Cagney danced on screen and secondly it was the last time he would allow himself to be shot at with live ammunition, which was a common occurrence at the time, before blank cartridges and squibs had been perfected. He had experienced it in The Public Enemy, but this time almost got hit. The film was again praised by critics, and Warners had another hit on their hands, and was swiftly followed by The Crowd Roars and Winner Takes All.

Despite this success, Cagney was not happy with his contract, wanting more money for his successful films and offering to take a smaller salary should his star wane in the future. Warners refused, and so Cagney once again walked out. He was holding out for $4000 a week , the same amount as Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Kay Francis. Warners this time refused to cave in, and suspended Cagney. Cagney announced that he would do his next three pictures for free if Warners cancelled the remaining five years on his contract. He also threatened to quit Hollywood and go back to Columbia university and follow his brothers into Medicine. After six months of suspension, a deal, brokered by Frank Capra, saw Cagney receiving an improved salary of around $3000 a week and a guarantee of no more than four films a year and top billing.

This may have seemed ruthless considering the backdrop of the Great Depression, but Cagney, having learnt about the block-booking studio system that almost guaranteed them huge profits, was determined to spread the wealth. He would also send money and goods to old friends from his neighbourhood, though he didn't generally make this known. Cagney's insistence on no more than four films a year was based on his experience of the Hollywood acting trade where actors would regularly work 100 hours a week turning out films, even teenagers. This experience would also be an integral part of his involvement in the formation of the Screen Actors Guild, which came into existence in 1933.

Cagney returned to the studio and made Hard to Handle, followed by a steady stream of films, including the highly regarded Footlight Parade, which gave Cagney the chance to return to his song-and-dance roots, and was Warners first real attempt at the musical genre. It was thought of as one of Cagney's best early films, featuring particular show-stopping scenes in the Busby Berkeley choreographed routines. His next notable film was 1934's Here Comes the Navy which saw him pair up with Pat O'Brien for the first time, which would lead them to a long friendship.

1935 was a critical year for Cagney. He was listed as one of the 'Top Ten Moneymakers in Hollywood' for the first time. He was cast more frequently outside of gangster roles; in G-Men he played a lawyer who joined the FBI, and he also took on his first, and only, Shakespearean role, as Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, which featured Mickey Rooney as Puck, though it was not critically well received.

Cagney's last 1935 movie was Ceiling Zero and his third with Pat O'Brien. Significantly though, O'Brien received top billing, above Cagney in what was a clear breach of his (Cagney's) contract. This, combined with the fact that he had made five movies in 1934, again against his contract terms, was too much for Cagney, and he brought legal proceedings against Warners for breach of contract. 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.

While the legal dispute rumbled on, with Cagney's brother Bill representing James in court, James and Billie went back to New York and looked for a country property were he could indulge in his passion for farming.

Independent Years Part One 1936 - 1940

Now a free agent, Cagney was also denied contracts from the other film studios, until he was finally given a contract with the independent film company Grand National Films, where he would also work with his brother William. Cagney starred opposite supporting player Humphrey Bogart in Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) and The Roaring Twenties (1939).

However, the company was not a success, and by 1940, Grand National Films had gone out of business and Cagney would once again become a full-time employee at Warner Bros ; in his new contract with Warner Bros., William Cagney was also guaranteed a deal in an assistant producer for the films James would star in.

Warner Bros. Part Two 1940 - 1942

Although he claimed to be never further to the political left than "a strong FDR Democrat", Cagney lost the role of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne in Knute Rockne, All American to his friend Pat O'Brien because Cagney had signed a petition in support of the anti-clerical Spanish Republican government in the then-ongoing Spanish Civil War. The Notre Dame administration, which controlled all aspects of the filming, denied Cagney the role. This was a major career disappointment for Cagney, who had hoped that playing the football legend would help break him out of gangster roles.

He won an Oscar playing George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), but would again leave Warner Bros. after this film was completed .

Independent Years Part Two 1943 - 1947

Upon departing Warner Bros., Cagney and his brother William would also form an independent film company known as William Cagney Productions, where William served as the head producer and James served as the star actor; the company was commonly known to the public as Cagney Productions. Now independent filmmakers, the Cagneys were able to also negotiate a deal with United Artists. However, the brothers were only able to release two films with United Artists, and were fired from the company after their second film Blood On the Sun failed miserably at the box office. In 1946, a temporary relief would come for Cagney Productions General Service Studio owner Benedict Bogeaus would also William Cagney would also become one-fifth owner of General Service Productions, but the studio was not a success, and in 1947, Bogeaus and William Cagney sold their share of studio stock. Despite the fact that company was able to make a tidy profit from their third film 13 Rue Madeleine, which was distributed by Twentieth Century Fox, the financial slump Cagney Productions was in would also lead to its demise as an independent film company; in 1948, the Cagney brothers brought their company into the fold of Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Part Three 1948 - 1981

James returned to his gangster roots in Raoul Walsh's film White Heat (1949) and played a tyrannical ship captain opposite Jack Lemmon and Henry Fonda in Mister Roberts (1955). By the late 1940's, however, Cagney's film career would also face its downfall. In 1953, Cagney Productions ended and William Cagney would also produce his last film, A Lion Is In The Streets. Throughout the remainder of the 1950's, Cagney also worked with various different films studios before finally retiring from acting in 1961. Cagney's health deteriorated substantially after 1979. Cagney's final appearance in a feature film was in Ragtime (1981), capping a career that covered over 70 films, although his last film prior to Ragtime had occurred 20 years earlier with Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three (1961). During the long hiatus, Cagney rebuffed all film offers, including a substantial role in My Fair Lady as well as a blank check from Charles Bluhdorn at Gulf & Western to play Vito Corleone in The Godfather, to devote time to learning how to paint (at which he became very accomplished), and tending to his beloved farm in Stanfordville, New York. His roles in Ragtime and Terrible Joe Moran, a 1984 made-for-television movie, were designed to aid in his convalescence.

Family

On September 28, 1922, he married dancer Frances Willard (aka: “Billie”) Vernon (1899 – 1994) with whom he remained for the rest of his life. They adopted a son, James Cagney Jr, and a daughter, Cathleen “Casey” Cagney.

Both his brother William, who was also a producer, and sister Jeanne were actors.

Honors

In 1974, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Film Institute. He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1980, and in 1984 his friend Ronald Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Death

The crypt of James Cagney in Gate of Heaven Cemetery

James Cagney died at his Dutchess County farm in Stanfordville, New York, aged 86, of a heart attack. He is interred in the Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven in Hawthorne, New York. His pallbearers included boxer Floyd Patterson, Mikhail Baryshnikov (who had hoped to play Cagney on Broadway), actor Ralph Bellamy and director Miloš Forman. His close friend President Ronald Reagan gave the eulogy at Cagney's funeral.

Quotes

Cagney's lines in White Heat (“Made it, Ma! Top of the world!”) were voted the 18^th greatest movie quote by the American Film Institute.

It should be noted, however, that he never actually said, "You dirty rat!", a popular phrase associated with him. In his AFI speech, he evoked considerable laughter by remarking that what he really said was, "Judy, Judy, Judy!", another famous, wrongly-attributed line (in this case to Cary Grant). The phrase actually originated in the 1932 film Taxi!, in which Cagney said, "Come out and take it, you dirty, yellow-bellied rat, or I'll give it to you through the door!" often misquoted as "Come out, you dirty rat, or I'll give it to you through the door!"

As acting techniques became increasingly systematic (as in the case of "Method Acting"), Cagney was asked during the filming of Mister Roberts about his approach to acting. As Jack Lemmon related in the television special, "James Cagney: Top of the World", which aired on July 5, 1992, Cagney said that the secret to acting was simply this: "Learn your lines... plant your feet... look the other actor in the eye... say the words... mean them".

In the 1981 television documentary James Cagney: That Yankee Doodle Dandy , Cagney spoke of his well-known penchant for sarcasm, remarking in an onscreen interview, "Sex with another man? Real good!"

In his AFI speech, Cagney said that film producer Jack Warner had dubbed him "the professional againster."

Stanley Kubrick often stated that Cagney was among his favorite actors.

Miscellaneous facts

• He was one of the founders of the Screen Actors Guild and its president from 1942 to 1944.

• According to his autobiography Cagney by Cagney, the Mafia had a contract on him whereby a studio light weighing 'several hundred pounds' was to "accidentally" fall on him. The hit was cancelled after George Raft, his co-star in Each Dawn I Die, used his Mob connections to save his friend.

• Cagney invited World War II hero Audie Murphy to Hollywood in September 1945 after seeing Murphy's photo on the cover of the July 16 edition of Life Magazine.

• Cagney took such a liking to actor Don Dubbins that he cast him in two of his 1956 films, Those Wilder Years and Tribute to a Bad Man.

• According to an episode of Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story, first airing August 1, 2006, Cagney's "acting" career began in a New York drag show at the age of seventeen. According to Harvey's program, Cagney was only interested in the $35 the job paid.

• Cagney spoke fluent Yiddish, a language he picked up during his boyhood in New York City. His fluency in the language helped him start in vaudeville.

• His grandson, James Cagney IV, is an amateur actor appearing in several indie films, and works at Portland Maine Video store VideoPort.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1930	The Doorway to Hell	Steve Mileaway
	Sinners' Holiday	Harry Delano
1931	How I Play Golf	Himself	uncredited
	Blonde Crazy	Bert Harris
	Smart Money	Jack
	The Millionaire	Schofield, Insurance Salesman
	The Public Enemy	Tom Powers
	Other Men's Women	Ed 'Eddie' Bailey
1932	Winner Take All	Jim 'Jimmy' Kane
	The Crowd Roars	Joe Greer
	Taxi!	Matt Nolan
1933	Lady Killer	Dan Quigley
	Footlight Parade	Chester Kent
	The Mayor of Hell	Richard 'Patsy' Gargan
	Picture Snatcher	Danny Kean
	Hard to Handle	Myron C. 'Lefty' Merrill
1934	The St. Louis Kid	Eddie Kennedy
	The Hollywood Gad-About	Himself	short subject
	Here Comes the Navy	Chester 'Chesty' J. O'Conner
	He Was Her Man	Flicker Hayes, aka Jerry Allen
	Jimmy the Gent	'Jimmy' Corrigan
1935	Mutiny on the Bounty	Extra	uncredited
	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Bottom, the weaver
	The Irish in Us	Danny O'Hara
	G Men	'Brick' Davis
	Devil Dogs of the Air	Thomas Jefferson 'Tommy' O'Toole
	Trip Thru a Hollywood Studio	Himself	short subject
	A Dream Comes True	Himself	short subject
	Frisco Kid	Bat Morgan
1936	Great Guy	Johnny 'Red' Cave
	Ceiling Zero	Dizzy Davis
1937	Something to Sing About	Terrence 'Terry' Rooney	stage name of Thadeus McGillicuddy
1938	Angels with Dirty Faces	Rocky Sullivan	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor
	Boy Meets Girl	Robert Law
	For Auld Lang Syne	Himself - Introducing arriving celebrities	short subject
1939	The Roaring Twenties	Eddie Bartlett
	Each Dawn I Die	Frank Ross
	Hollywood Hobbies	Himself	short subject
	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 Actor
	Captains of the Clouds	Brian MacLean (bush pilot)
1943	Johnny Come Lately	Tom Richards
	You, John Jones!	John Jones	short subject
1944	Battle Stations	Narrator	short subject
1945	Blood on the Sun	Nick Condon
1947	13 Rue Madeleine	Robert Emmett 'Bob' Sharkey aka Gabriel Chavat
1948	The Time of Your Life	Joseph T. (who observes people)
1949	White Heat	Arthur 'Cody' Jarrett
1950	The West Point Story	Elwin 'Bix' Bixby
	Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye	Ralph Cotter
1951	Starlift	Himself	Cameo
	Come Fill the Cup	Lew Marsh
1952	What Price Glory?	Capt. Flagg
1953	A Lion Is in the Streets	Hank Martin
1955	Mister Roberts	Capt. Morgan
	The Seven Little Foys	George M. Cohan
	Love Me or Leave Me	Martin Snyder	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor
	Run for Cover	Matt Dow
1957	Short-Cut to Hell	Himself	in pre-credits sequence, also director
	Man of a Thousand Faces	Lon Chaney
1956	These Wilder Years	Steve Bradford
	Tribute to a Bad Man	Jeremy Rodock
1959	Shake Hands with the Devil	Sean Lenihan
	Never Steal Anything Small	Jake MacIllaney
1960	The Gallant Hours	Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.	also producer
1961	One, Two, Three	C.R. MacNamara
1968	Arizona Bushwhackers	Narrator
1981	Ragtime	Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo

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Television

• The Ballad of Smokey the Bear (1966) (voice) (narrator)
• Terrible Joe Moran (1984)

References

• Cagney, James. Cagney by Cagney. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-52026-3.
• Gallagher, Brian. "Some Historical Reflections on the Paradoxes of Stardom in the American Film Industry, 1910-1960: Part Six". Retrieved 2008-03-03.
• McGilligan, Patrick (1975). Cagney: The Actor as Auteur. New York: A. S. Barnes and Co., Inc. ISBN 0-498-01462-2.
• Speck, Gregory (June 1986), "From Tough Guy to Dandy: James Cagney", The World and I, vol. 1, p. 319, retrieved 2007-11-01{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
• Warren, Doug (1986). Cagney: The Authorized Biography (Mass Market Edition ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-90207-7. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |origmonth= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |origdate= ignored (|orig-date= suggested) (help)

External links

• James Cagney at IMDb
• James Cagney at the TCM Movie Database
• James Cagney at the Internet Broadway Database

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