James Cagney

Acting

James Cagney

Born 1899-07-17 · New York City, New York, USA

James Francis Cagney, Jr. (July 17, 1899 – March 30, 1986) was an American film actor. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of roles, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys". In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time. In his first performing role, Cagney danced dressed 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 his first major acting role in 1925. He secured several other roles, receiving good reviews before landing the lead in the 1929 play Penny Arcade. After rave reviews for his acting, Warners 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 its famous grapefruit scene, the film thrust Cagney into the spotlight, making him one of Warners' and Hollywood's biggest stars. In 1938, he received his first Academy Award Best Actor nomination for Angels with Dirty Faces, before winning in 1942 for his portrayal of George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy. He was nominated a third time in 1955 for Love Me or Leave Me. Cagney retired for 20 years in 1961, spending time on his farm before returning for a part in Ragtime mainly to aid his recovery from a stroke. Cagney walked out on Warners several times over his career, each time coming back on 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 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", 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.

Acting credits

Frisco Kid poster
7.0

After a roustabout sailor avoids being shanghaied in 1850s San Francisco, his audacity helps him rise to a position of power in the vice industry of the infamous Barbary Coast.

Frisco Kid

1935

Mutiny on the Bounty poster
7.4

Fletcher Christian successfully leads a revolt against the ruthless Captain Bligh on the HMS Bounty. However, Bligh returns one year later, hell bent on revenge.

Mutiny on the Bounty

1935

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid poster
6.6

Juliet Forrest is convinced that the reported death of her father in a mountain car crash was no accident. Her father was a prominent cheese scientist working on a secret recipe. To prove it was murder, she enlists the services of private eye Rigby Reardon. He finds a slip of paper containing a list of people who are 'The Friends and Enemies of Carlotta'.

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

1982

Smart Money poster
6.9

Two brothers' trip to the big city to do a little gambling results in a fateful turn of events.

Smart Money

1931

Angels with Dirty Faces poster
7.5

Childhood chums Rocky Sullivan and Jerry Connelly grow up on opposite sides of the fence: Rocky matures into a prominent gangster, while Jerry becomes a priest, tending to the needs of his old tenement neighborhood.

Angels with Dirty Faces

1938

The Public Enemy poster
7.2

Two young Chicago hoodlums, Tom Powers and Matt Doyle, rise up from their poverty-stricken slum life to become petty thieves, bootleggers and cold-blooded killers. But with street notoriety and newfound wealth, the duo feels the heat from the cops and rival gangsters both. Despite his ruthless criminal reputation, Tom tries to remain connected to his family, however, gang warfare and the need for revenge eventually pull him away.

The Public Enemy

1931

White Heat poster
7.6

A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and then leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. After the heist, events take a crazy turn.

White Heat

1949

One, Two, Three poster
7.5

In Cold War-era West Berlin, American Coca-Cola executive C.R. 'Mac' MacNamara is tasked with playing babysitter to his boss' spoiled 17-year-old daughter Scarlett, who proves more difficult than anticipated when she reveals that she is pregnant by a Communist.

One, Two, Three

1961

Lady Killer poster
6.9

An ex-gang member tries to resist his old cohorts' criminal influence after he suddenly becomes a Hollywood movie star.

Lady Killer

1933

Mister Roberts poster
7.0

Mr. Roberts is a Navy officer who's yearning for battle but is stuck in the backwaters of World War II on a non-commissioned ship run by the bullying Captain Morton.

Mister Roberts

1955

'G' Men poster
6.6

James “Brick” Davis, a struggling attorney, owes his education to a mobster, but always has refused to get involved with the underworld. When a friend of his is gunned down by a notorious criminal, Brick decides to abandon the exercise of the law and join the Department of Justice to capture the murderer.

'G' Men

1935

Footlight Parade poster
6.8

A fledgling producer finds himself at odds with his workers, financiers and his greedy ex-wife when he tries to produce live musicals for movie-going audiences.

Footlight Parade

1933

The Roaring Twenties poster
7.5

After World War I, Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.

The Roaring Twenties

1939

The Fighting 69th poster
5.8

Although loudmouthed braggart Jerry Plunkett alienates his comrades and officers, Father Duffy, the regimental chaplain, has faith that he'll prove himself in the end.

The Fighting 69th

1940

A Midsummer Night's Dream poster
6.4

Four young people escape Athens to a forest where the king and queen of the fairies are quarreling, while meanwhile, a troupe of amateur actors rehearses a play. When the fairy Puck uses a magic flower to make people fall in love, the whole thing becomes a little bit confused...

A Midsummer Night's Dream

1935

Love Me or Leave Me poster
6.9

A fictionalized account of the career of jazz singer Ruth Etting and her tempestuous marriage to gangster Marty Snyder, who helped propel her to stardom.

Love Me or Leave Me

1955

Picture Snatcher poster
6.9

An ex-con uses his street smarts to become a successful photojournalist.

Picture Snatcher

1933

Vaudeville poster
8.0

Vaudeville is a 1997 PBS documentary under its American Masters program. Using film clips and photos, the art and history of vaudeville (1890-1930s) is illustrated.

Vaudeville

1997

Hollywood's Funniest All-Star Bloopers poster
2.0

William Shatner, Liz Taylor and many more stars blow lines, lose their pants and more in this hilarious collection of movie and TV bloopers.

Hollywood's Funniest All-Star Bloopers

1985

What Price Glory poster
5.8

Two military men, Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt, who are rivals to begin with, grow more at odds with each other when Quirt is made Flagg's top sergeant. And when a local beauty comes between them, their rivalry escalates even further. But when they discover that the woman has marriage in mind, they now compete to try to avoid marching down the aisle - that is, until they are called upon to march into battle.

What Price Glory

1952

The Millionaire poster
7.6

A millionaire automaker retires upon the advice of his doctor, but becomes so bored he buys half interest in a gas station and works it on the sly.

The Millionaire

1931

Run for Cover poster
6.8

An ex-convict drifter and his flawed young partner are made sheriff and deputy of a Western town.

Run for Cover

1955

Captains of the Clouds poster
6.4

Inspired by Churchill's Dunkirk speech, brash, undisciplined Canadian bush pilot Brian MacLean and three friends enlist in the RCAF.

Captains of the Clouds

1942

The Strawberry Blonde poster
7.0

Biff Grimes is desperately in love with Virginia, but his best friend Hugo marries her and manipulates Biff into becoming involved in his somewhat nefarious businesses. Hugo appears to have stolen Biff's dreams, and Biff has to deal with the realisation that having what he wants and wanting what another has can be very different things.

The Strawberry Blonde

1941

Behind the camera