Below: In "Yankee Doodle Dandy" ( 1942)
I was reminded when doing the post on Rita Hayworth that Jimmy Cagney also started out as a dancer and would always remind interviewers of that
The tough guy star was quite a hoofer too-
Look at this retrospective video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT0Cvzfh38E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT0Cvzfh38E
James Cagney
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| James Cagney | |
|---|---|
A studio publicity photo
|
|
| Born | James Francis Cagney, Jr. July 17, 1899[1] New York City, New York, USA |
| Died | March 30, 1986 (aged 86) Stanfordville, New York, USA |
| Occupation | Actor/Dancer |
| Years active | 1919–84 |
| Spouse(s) | Frances Vernon (m. 1922–86) |
In his first professional acting performance, Cagney danced costumed as a woman in the chorus line of the 1919 revue Every Sailor. He spent several years in vaudeville as a hoofer 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. After rave reviews, Warner Bros. signed him for an initial $500-a-week, three-week contract to reprise his role; this was quickly extended to a seven-year contract.
Cagney's seventh film, The Public Enemy, became one of the most influential gangster movies of the period. Notable for a famous scene that makes dramatic use of a grapefruit, the film thrust Cagney into the spotlight, making him one of Hollywood's biggest stars as well as one of Warner Brothers' biggest contracts. In 1938, he received his first Academy Award for Best Actor nomination, for Angels with Dirty Faces for his subtle portrayal of the tough guy/man-child Rocky Sullivan. In 1942 Cagney was awarded the Oscar for his energetic portrayal of George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy.[7] He was nominated a third time in 1955 for Love Me or Leave Me. Cagney retired from acting and dancing in 1961, deciding to spend time on his farm with his family. He exited retirement, twenty years later, for a part in the 1981 movie Ragtime, mainly to aid his recovery from a stroke. Cagney walked out on Warners several times over the course of his career, each time returning upon much improved personal and artistic terms. In 1935, he sued Warners for breach of contract and won; this marked one of the first times an actor had beaten a studio over a contract issue. He worked for an independent film company for a year while the suit was being settled, and also established his own production company, Cagney Productions, in 1942, before returning to Warners again four years later. Jack Warner called him "The Professional Againster",[8] in reference to Cagney’s refusal to be pushed around. Cagney also made numerous morale-boosting troop tours before and during World War II, and was president of the Screen Actors Guild for two years.
Contents
- 1 Early life
- 2 Early career (1919–1930)
- 3 Warner Bros. (1930–1935)
- 4 Independent years (1936–1937)
- 5 Return to Warner Bros. (1938–1942)
- 6 Independent again (1942–1948)
- 7 Back to Warners (1949–1955)
- 8 Later career (1955–1961)
- 9 Retirement and death (1961–1986)
- 10 Personal life
- 11 Honors and legacy
- 12 Filmography
- 13 Television
- 14 References
- 15 External links
Early life
Cagney was born 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[1] or in a top floor apartment at 391 East Eighth.[9] His father, James Francis Cagney, Sr., was of Irish descent. By the time of his son's birth, he was a bartender[10] and amateur boxer, though on Cagney's birth certificate, he is listed as a telegraphist.[9] His mother was Carolyn (née Nelson); her father was a Norwegian ship captain[3] while her mother was Irish.[11]Cagney was the second of seven children, two of whom died within months of birth; he himself was very sick as a young child, so much so that his mother feared he would die before he could be baptized. He later attributed his sickness to the poverty in which they grew up.[10][12] The family moved twice while he was still young, first to East 79th Street, and then to East 96th Street.[13]
The red-haired, blue-eyed Cagney graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York City in 1918, and attended Columbia College of Columbia University[14] where he intended to major in art.[15] He also took German and joined the Student Army Training Corps,[16] but dropped out after one semester, returning home upon the death of his father during the 1918 flu pandemic.[15]
He held a variety of jobs early in his life, giving all his earnings to his family: junior architect, copy boy for the New York Sun, book custodian at the New York Public Library, bellhop, draughtsman, and night doorman.[17] It was while Cagney was working for the New York Public Library that he met Florence James, who would help him on his way to an acting career.[18] 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."[17]
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.[17]
He was a good street fighter, defending his older brother Harry, a medical student, against all comers when necessary.[10][19] 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.[20] He also played semi-professional baseball for a local team,[17] and entertained dreams of playing in the Major Leagues.[21]
His introduction to films 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 movies.[17] 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 his soon-to-be friend, Florence James, directed.[18] 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.[22] Therefore, Florence James has the unique distinction of being the first director to put him on a stage.[18] Afterward, he joined a number of companies as a performer in a variety of roles.[23]
Early career (1919–1930)
While working at Wanamaker's Department Store in 1919, Cagney learned, from a colleague who had seen him dance, of a role in the upcoming production Every Sailor. A wartime play in which the chorus was made up of servicemen dressed as women, it was originally titled Every Woman. Cagney auditioned for the role of a chorus girl, despite considering it a waste of time; he only knew one dance step, the complicated Peabody, but he knew it perfectly.[24] This was enough to convince the producers that he could dance, and he copied the other dancers' moves while waiting to go on.[25] 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 natural 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."[26]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 preferred that he get an education.[27] Cagney appreciated the $35 a week he was paid, which he called "a mountain of money for me in those worrisome days."[24][25] In deference to his mother's worries, he got employment as a brokerage house runner.[25] This did not stop him looking for more stage work, however, and he went on to successfully audition for a chorus part in Pitter Patter,[3][26] for which he earned $55 a week—he sent $40 to his mother each week.[28] So strong was his habit of holding down more than one job at a time, he also worked as a dresser for one of the leads, portered the casts' luggage, and understudied for the lead.[26][28] Among the chorus line performers was sixteen-year-old Frances Willard "Billie" Vernon, whom he would marry in 1922.[3][26] The show began Cagney's ten-year association with vaudeville and Broadway. Cagney and his wife were among the early resident of Free Acres, a social experiment established by Bolton Hall in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey.[29]
Pitter Patter was not hugely successful, but it did well enough to run for 32 weeks, enabling 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.[30][31] One of the troupes that Cagney joined was Parker, Rand and Leach, taking over the spot vacated when Archie Leach—who would later change his name to Cary Grant—left.[32][33]
After years of touring and struggling to make money, Cagney and Vernon moved to Hawthorne, California in 1924, 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.[34] They were not very successful at first; the dance studio Cagney set up had few clients and folded, and he and Vernon toured the studios, but garnered 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.[34]
Following the show's four-month run, Cagney went back to vaudeville for the next couple of years. He achieved varied success, but after appearing in Outside Looking In,[clarification needed] the Cagneys were more financially secure. During this period, he met George M. Cohan, whom he would go on to portray in Yankee Doodle Dandy, though they never spoke.[38]
Cagney 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.[38][39] 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 Billie recalled, "Jimmy said that it was all over. He made up his mind that he would get a job doing something else."[40]
The Cagneys had run-of-the-play contracts, which lasted as long as the play did. Billie 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, 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.
He had built a reputation as an innovative teacher, so when he was cast as the lead in Grand Street Follies of 1928, he was also appointed the choreographer. The show received rave reviews[41] and was followed by Grand Street Follies of 1929. These roles led to a part in George Kelly's Maggie the Magnificent, a play generally not liked by the critics, although Cagney's performance was. Cagney saw this role (and Women Go on Forever) as significant because of the talented directors he encountered; 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."[42]
Warner Bros. (1930–1935)
Playing opposite Cagney in Maggie the Magnificent was Joan Blondell, who would star again with him a few months later in Marie Baumer's new play Penny Arcade.[43] While the critics panned Penny Arcade, Cagney and Blondell were both highly praised. Al Jolson, sensing film potential, bought the rights for $20,000. He then sold the play to Warner Brothers, with the stipulation that Cagney and Blondell be cast in the film version. Retitled Sinners' Holiday, the film was released in 1930.[43] Cagney was given a $500-a-week, three-week contract.[44] In the film, he portrays Harry Delano, a tough guy who becomes a killer, but generates sympathy because of his unfortunate upbringing. This role of the sympathetic "bad" guy would be a recurring character type for Cagney throughout his career.[45] During filming of Sinners' Holiday, he also demonstrated the stubbornness that would characterize his work attitude. 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 s*** what you tell him, I'm not going to say that line'". They took the line out.[46]Despite this outburst, the studio liked him, and before his three-week contract was up—while the film was still shooting[47]—they gave Cagney a three-week extension, which was followed by a full seven-year contract at $400 a week.[46] The contract, however, allowed Warners to drop him at the end of any 40-week period, effectively only guaranteeing him 40 weeks income at a time. As when he was growing up, Cagney shared his income with his family.[46]
With the good reviews that Cagney received, he immediately starred in another gangster role in The Doorway to Hell. The film was a financial hit, helping cement Cagney's growing reputation.[48] He made four more movies before his breakthrough role.
Cagney received widespread praise for his role. The New York Herald Tribune described his performance as "the most ruthless, unsentimental appraisal of the meanness of a petty killer the cinema has yet devised."[52] He received top billing after the film,[53] but while he acknowledged the importance of the role to his career, he always disputed 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.[54] Night Nurse was actually released three months after The Public Enemy and Gable punched Stanwyck in the film, knocking her character unconscious, then carried her across the hall, where she woke up later.
The scene in which Cagney pushes a grapefruit into Mae Clarke's face is viewed by many critics as one of the most famous moments in movie history.[14][50][55][56] The scene itself was a very late addition, and who originally thought of the idea is a matter of debate; producer Darryl Zanuck claimed he thought of it in a script conference, director William Wellman claimed that 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. 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.".[57] 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."[58]
Filmmakers have mimicked it many times, such as Lee Marvin's character splashing scalding coffee in the face of Gloria Grahame in The Big Heat.[59] Cagney himself was offered grapefruit in almost every restaurant he visited for years after, and Clarke claimed it virtually ruined her career because of typecasting.[55]
Cagney's stubbornness was starting to become well known behind the scenes, not least after his refusal to join in a 100 percent participation free charity drive that was being pushed by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Cagney did not object to donating money to charity, but rather to being forced to. Already he had acquired the nickname "The Professional Againster".[8][60]
With the introduction of the United States Motion Picture Production Code of 1930, and particularly its edicts concerning on-screen violence, Warners decided to allow Cagney a change of pace. They cast him in the comedy Blonde Crazy, again opposite Blondell. As he completed filming, The Public Enemy was filling cinemas with all-night showings. 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 give him a raise. The studio heads also insisted that Cagney continue promoting their films, even the ones he was not in, something he opposed. Cagney moved back to New York, leaving his apartment to his brother Bill to look after.[63]
While Cagney was in New York, his brother, who had effectively become his agent, angled for a substantial pay rise and more personal freedom for his brother. Warners' hand was forced by the success of The Public Enemy and Blonde Crazy; they eventually offered Cagney a contract paying $1000 a week.[64] Cagney's first film upon returning from New York was 1932's Taxi!. The film is notable for not only being the first time that Cagney danced on screen, but it was also the last time he would allow himself to be shot at with live ammunition (a relatively common occurrence at the time, as blank cartridges and squibs were considered too expensive and hard to find to be used in most motion picture filming). He had been shot at in The Public Enemy, but during filming for Taxi!, he was almost hit.[65] In his opening scene, Cagney spoke fluent Yiddish, a language he had picked up during his boyhood in New York City.[65][66] The film was again praised by critics.
"I never said, 'MMMmmm, you dirty rat!"
Cagney, in his acceptance speech for the AFI Life Achievement Award, 1974
Despite his success, Cagney was 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.[67][68] Warners refused, and so Cagney once again walked out. He was holding out for $4000 a week,[67] the same salary as Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Kay Francis.[68] Warners refused to cave in this time, and suspended Cagney. Cagney announced that he would do his next three pictures for free if Warners would cancel 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, a deal was brokered by Frank Capra that gave the actor an increased salary of around $3000 a week, a guarantee of no more than four films a year, and top billing.[69]
Having learned about the block-booking studio system that almost guaranteed the studios huge profits, Cagney was determined to spread the wealth.[70][71] He would send money and goods to old friends from his neighborhood, though he did not generally make this known.[72] 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 would also be an integral reason for his involvement in the formation of the Screen Actors Guild, which came into existence in 1933.
In 1935, Cagney was listed as one of the Top Ten Moneymakers in Hollywood for the first time,[76] 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 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 Warners for breach of contract.[77][78] 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.[77] 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.[77]
Independent years (1936–1937)
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.[79][80] Cagney made two films for Grand National: Great Guy and Something to Sing About. He received good reviews for both,[81][82] but overall the production quality was not up to Warners standards, and the films did not do well. A third film, Dynamite, was planned, but Grand National ran out of money.[83]Cagney also became involved in political causes, and in 1936, agreed to sponsor the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League.[84] 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.[84][85]
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."[88] 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 were absent was added onto the end of an already long contract, as happened with Olivia de Havilland and Bette Davis.[71] 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.[89]
Artistically, the Grand National experiment was a success for Cagney, who was able to move away from his traditional Warners tough guy roles to more sympathetic characters.[86][90] How far he could have experimented and developed will never be known, but back in the Warners fold, he was once again playing tough guys.[90]
Return to Warner Bros. (1938–1942)
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), the sixth of nine feature films they would make together.
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 that 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.[92] The film is regarded by many as one of Cagney's finest,[93] 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.[94] (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.[94]) 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.[95][96]
During his first year back at Warners, Cagney became the studio's highest earner, making $324,000.[97] He 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 that "Mr. Cagney, of the bull-calf brow, is as always a superb and witty actor".[98] The Roaring Twenties was the last film in which Cagney's character's violence was explained by poor upbringing, or their environment, as was the case in The Public Enemy. From that point on, violence was attached to mania, as in White Heat.[98] In 1939, Cagney was second to only Gary Cooper in the national acting wage stakes, earning $368,333.[99]
Filming began the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the cast and crew worked in a "patriotic frenzy"[102] as the United States' involvement in World War II gave the cast and crew a feeling that "they might be sending the last message from the free world", according to actress Rosemary DeCamp.[104] Cohan was given a private showing of the film shortly before his death, and thanked Cagney "for a wonderful job".[105] A paid première, with seats ranging from $25 to $25,000, raised $5,750,000 for war bonds for the US treasury.[106][107]
"Smart, alert, hard-headed, Cagney is as typically American as Cohan
himself... It was a remarkable performance, probably Cagney's best, and
it makes Yankee Doodle a dandy"
Time magazine[108]
Independent again (1942–1948)
Cagney announced in March 1942 that he and brother William were setting up Cagney Productions to release films though United Artists.[79][112] Free of Warners 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.[113] In September 1942, he was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild.Almost a year after the creation of his new production company, 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,[114] so he produced a movie that was a "complete and exhilarating exposition of the Cagney 'alter-ego' on film".[115] 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).[116]
"I'm here to dance a few jigs, sing a few songs, say hello to the boys, and that's all."
Cagney to British reporters[117]
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.[118] 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.[119] 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.[120]
While 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.[121] 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;[ 122] audiences again struggled to accept Cagney in a non-tough guy role.[122][123]
Cagney Productions was in serious trouble; poor returns from the produced films, and a legal dispute with Sam Goldwyn Studio over a rental agreement[122][123] forced Cagney back to Warners. He signed a distribution-production deal with the studio for the film White Heat,[123] effectively making Cagney Productions a unit of Warner Brothers.[87]
Back to Warners (1949–1955)
Cagney'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.[125][128] Some of the extras on set actually became terrified of the actor because of his violent portrayal.[125] 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.[125]
"[A] homicidal paranoiac with a mother fixation"
Warner Bros. publicity description of Cody Jarrett in White Heat[127]
Cagney's next notable role was the 1955 film Love Me or Leave Me, his third with Day. Cagney played Martin "Moe the Gimp" Snyder, a lame Jewish-American gangster from Chicago, a part Spencer Tracy had turned down.[133] Cagney described the script as "that extremely rare thing, the perfect script".[133][134] 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".[133][134]
His performance earned him another Best Actor Academy Award nomination, 17 years after his first.[7] Reviews were strong, and the film is considered to be one of the best of his later career. In Day, he found a co-star he could build a rapport with, such as he had had with Blondell at the start of his career.[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."[135]
Cagney's next film was Mister Roberts, directed by John Ford and slated to star Spencer Tracy. It was Tracy's involvement that ensured that Cagney accepted a supporting role, although in the end, Tracy did not take part.[136] Cagney had worked with Ford before on What Price Glory?, and they had gotten along fairly well. However, as soon as Ford met Cagney at the airport, the director warned him that they would "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."[137] 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, even though Cagney never particularly liked Ford.[137]
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. 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."[136]
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.[138]
Later career (1955–1961)
In 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."[140]
The following year, Cagney appeared in Man of a Thousand Faces, in which he played 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.[141][142]
Later 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,[142] 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".[143]
In 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.[144]
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' 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."[145][146]
"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."
with one scene requiring 50 takes, something Cagney was unaccustomed to.[148] In fact, it was one of the worst experiences of his long career. 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.[149] 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."[150]
Retirement and death (1961–1986)
Cagney remained in retirement for twenty years, conjuring up images of Jack 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,[151][152] he found it easier to rebuff others, including a part in The Godfather Part II.[152] 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 State. When in New York, he and Billie held numerous parties at the Silver Horn restaurant, where they got to know Marge Zimmerman, the proprietress.[153]Cagney was diagnosed with glaucoma and began taking eye drops, but he continued to have problems with his vision. On Zimmerman's recommendation, he visited a different doctor, who determined that glaucoma had been a misdiagnosis, and that Cagney was actually a diabetic. Zimmerman then took it upon herself to look after Cagney, preparing his meals to reduce his blood triglyceride level, which had reached alarming proportions. Such was her success that, by the time Cagney made a rare public appearance at his American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement award ceremony in 1974, he had lost 20 pounds (9.1 kg) and his vision had markedly improved.[154] The ceremony was opened by Charlton Heston and Cagney was introduced by Frank Sinatra. So many Hollywood stars were in attendance — 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 brought about the end of the movie industry. During 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 an entirely different misquotation attributed not to Cagney but to Cary Grant.[155]
"I think he's some kind of genius. His instinct, it's just
unbelievable. I could just stay at home. One of the qualities of a
brilliant actor is that things look better on the screen than the set.
Jimmy has that quality"
Director Miloš Forman [156]
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 the security at the dock, said they had never seen anything like it, although they had experienced past visits by Marlon Brando and Robert Redford.
Despite the fact that Ragtime was his first film in twenty 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.
Cagney's frequent co-star, Pat O'Brien, appeared with him on the British chat show Parkinson in the early 1970s and they both made a surprise appearance at the Queen Mother's command birthday performance at the London Palladium in 1980.[158] His appearance on stage 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.[156]
Cagney made a rare TV appearance in the lead role of the movie Terrible Joe Moran in 1984. This was his last role. His health was fragile and more strokes had confined him to a wheelchair. The producers, however, worked his real-life disabilities into the role. The film made use of fight clips from Cagney's boxing movie Winner Take All (1932), despite the fact that the TV-movie is about an entirely different character.
Cagney died at his Dutchess County farm in Stanfordville, New York, on Easter Sunday 1986, of a heart attack. He was 86 years old.[159] A funeral mass was celebrated at Manhattan's St. Frances de Sales Roman Catholic Church.[160] The eulogy at the funeral was given by his close friend, who was also the President of the United States at the time, Ronald Reagan.[66] His pallbearers included the boxer Floyd Patterson, the dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov (who had hoped to play Cagney on Broadway), actor Ralph Bellamy, and the director Miloš Forman. Cagney's body is interred in the Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven in Hawthorne, New York.
Personal life
Cagney's son married Jill Lisbeth Inness in 1962.[164] The couple had two children, James III and Cindy.[165] Cagney Jr. died from a heart attack on January 27, 1984 in Washington, D.C., two years before his adoptive father's death.[166][167] He had become estranged from his father and had not seen or talked to him since 1982.[165][166]
Cagney's daughter Cathleen married Jack W. Thomas in 1962.[168] She too was estranged from her father during the final years of his life. She died August 11, 2004.[169]
As a young man, Cagney became interested in farming – sparked by a soil conservation lecture he had attended[15] – to the extent that during his first walkout from Warners, he help to found a 100-acre (0.40 km2) farm in Martha's Vineyard; owning a farm had long been a dream of his.[170][171] Cagney loved that there were no concrete roads surrounding 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!", which forced Tracy to make his way on foot.[80]
In 1955, having shot three films, Cagney bought a 120-acre (0.49 km2) 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. Cagney turned it into a working farm, selling some of the dairy cattle and replacing them with beef cattle.[172][173] He expanded it over the years to 750 acres (3.0 km2). Such was Cagney's enthusiasm for agriculture and farming that his diligence and efforts were rewarded by an honorary degree from Floridas Rollins College. Rather than just "turning up with Ava Gardner on my arm," to accept his honorary degree Cagney turned the tables upon the colleges faculty by writing and submitting a paper on soil conservation.[172]
Cagney, born in 1899 (which was prior to the widespread use of automobiles) loved horses from childhood. Often, as a child, he would sit on the horses used by local delivery riders and ride in horse-drawn streetcars with his mother. As an adult, and 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.[174]
Cagney was a keen sailor and owned boats that were harbored on both coasts of the United States,[175] His joy in sailing, however, did not protect him from occasional seasickness—becoming ill, sometimes, on a calm day while weathering rougher, heavier seas[176] at other times.
Cagney greatly enjoyed painting,[177] and claimed in his autobiography that he might have been happier, if somewhat poorer, as a painter than a movie star.[178] 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.[177]
Political views
In his autobiography, Cagney stated that as a young man he had no political views, since he was simply more concerned with where the next meal was coming from.[179] However the emerging labor movement of the twenties and thirties 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".[180] This somewhat exaggerated view was enhanced by his public contractual wranglings with Warners 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 funneling 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 pay[181][182] and Cagney even threatened that, if the studios took a day's pay for Merriam's campaign, he would give a weeks pay to Upton Sinclair, Merriam's opponent in the race.[183]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.[179] 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", an act which 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.[184]
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, which had begun to take an active interest in the movie industry. Billie once received a phone call telling her that Cagney was dead.[186] Cagney alleged that, having failed to scare him and the Guild off, they 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 hit was supposedly canceled.[186][187]
During World War II, to raise money for war bonds, Cagney took part in racing exhibitions at the Roosevelt Raceway and sold seats for the premiere of Yankee Doodle Dandy.[106][108] He also allowed the Army to practice maneuvers at his Martha's Vineyard farm.[188]
After 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 voted for Thomas E. Dewey, his "first non-Democratic vote".[189] By 1980, Cagney was contributing financially to the Republican Party, supporting his friend Ronald Reagan's bid for the presidency in the 1980 election.[190] As he got older, he became more and more conservative, referring to himself in his autobiography as "arch-conservative". He regarded his move away from liberal politics 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."[191]
Honors and legacy
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."[192]He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1980. In 1984, Ronald Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
In 1999, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 33 cent stamp honoring Cagney.[193]
Cagney was among the most favored actors for the director Stanley Kubrick and the actor Marlon Brando,[194] and was considered by Orson Welles to be "maybe the greatest actor to ever appear in front of a camera."[6] Warner Bros. would arrange private screenings of Cagney films for Winston Churchill.[124]
Filmography
"James Cagney". IMDb. Retrieved 4 October 2013.Television
- What's My Line 1960 - Secret Guest
- The Ballad of Smokey the Bear (1966) – voice, narrator
- Terrible Joe Moran (1984)
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