Home> Facts and Trivia > Stars > James Cagney
James Cagney Facts
| Sign | Cancer |
| Born |
Jul 17, 1899 New York City, NY |
| Died |
Mar 30, 1986 Stanfordville, NY |
| Age | Died at 86 |
| Total Facts | 62 |
"Cagney! The Musical," an original biographical stage work written by Peter Colley and directed by Bill Castellino, had its world premiere in March 2009 at the Florida Stage theatre in Manalapan, Florida. Robert Creighton starred as Cagney, both he and the show received good to excellent reviews and the run soon sold out, setting a record for the theatre.
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) is ranked #88 on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time.
A studio changed his birth date from 1899 to 1904 to capitalize on his youthful appearance.
According to James Cagney's autobiography Cagney By Cagney, (Published by Doubleday and Company Inc 1976, and ghost written by show biz biographer Jack McCabe), a Mafia plan to murder Cagney by dropping a several hundred pound klieg light on top of him was stopped at the insistence of George Raft. Cagney at that time was president of the Screen Actors Guild, and was determined not to let the mob infiltrate the industry. Raft used his many mob connections to cancel the hit.
According to his authorized biography, Cagney, although of Irish and Norwegian extraction, could speak Yiddish since he had grown up in a heavily Jewish area in New York. He used to converse in Yiddish with Jewish performers like Sylvia Sidney.
According to his autobiography his brother Bill (who was also his manager) actively pursued the role of Cohan in the ultra-patriotic film Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) as a way of removing the taint of Cagney's radical activities in the 1930s, when he was a strong Roosevelt liberal. When Cohan himself learned about Cagney's background as a song-and-dance man in vaudeville, he okay-ed him for the project.
Along with Rita Hayworth, is mentioned by name in the Tom Waits song "Invitation To The Blues".
Although closely associated with his friend Pat O'Brien who co-starred with Cagney in 9 movies, Cagney actually made more movies with his other close friend Frank McHugh. 11 in total which included: The Crowd Roars (1932), Footlight Parade (1933), Here Comes The Navy (1934), Devil Dogs Of The Air (1935), The Irish In Us (1935), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), Boy Meets Girl (1938), The Roaring Twenties (1939), The Fighting 69th (1940), City For Conquest, (1940), A Lion Is In The Streets (1953).
American Film Institute Life Achievement Award [1974]
At the time of filming of White Heat (1949), Special Effects were not yet using squibs (tiny explosives that simulate the effects of bullets). The producers employed skilled marksmen who used low velocity bullets to break windows or show bullets hitting near the characters. In the factory scene, Cagney was missed by mere inches.
Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan at a ceremony at the White House on 26 March 1984.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986- 1990, pages 149-152. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.
Broke a rib while filming the dance scene in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) but continued dancing until it was completed.
Brother of actor-producer William Cagney and of actress Jeanne Cagney.
Cagney and best friends Frank McHugh & Pat O'Brien, were known collectively and affectionately as the 'Irish Mafia' and would often be seen out together around Hollywood nightclubs having a quiet drink and a chat. Other members of this close knit social group included actors Lynne Overman, Ralph Bellamy, Frank Morgan, Bert Lahr, Allen Jenkins and Spencer Tracy.
Cagney's first job as an entertainer was as a female dancer in a chorus line.
Convinced decorated war hero Audie Murphy to go into acting.
Despite the common perception that he was full-blooded Irish of origin this was not all-together true. His grandfather was from Norway, but as he told an interviewer shortly before his death in 1986: "My mother's father, my Grandpa Nelson, was a Norwegian sea captain, but when I tried to investigate those roots I didn't get very far, for he had apparently changed his name to another one that made it impossible to identify him within the rest of the population."
Earned a Black Belt in Judo.
Encouraged by his mother to take up boxing as a hobby. She thought it was a necessary skill to have, especially in the rough Eastside section of New York City where he grew up. She would often show up and watch him take on neighborhood kids in a street fight. However when he wanted to become a professional boxer, she disapproved. She started to put on a pair of boxing gloves and told him "If you want to become a professional fighter, then your first fight will have to be against me". He abandoned the idea of doing boxing professionally from that moment on.
Extraordinarily (for Hollywood), he never cheated on his wife Frances, resulting in a marriage that lasted 64 years (ending with his death). The closest he came was nearly giving into a seduction attempt by Merle Oberon while the two stars were on tour to entertain WWII GIs.
Father of actor James Cagney Jr.
Films co-starring James Cagney and Pat O'Brien were these nine: Here Comes the Navy (1934), Devil Dogs of the Air (1935), The Irish in Us (1935), Boy Meets Girl (1938), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), Torrid Zone (1940), The Fighting 69th (1940), Ceiling Zero (1936), as well as their finale together, four decades later, Ragtime (1981).
Grandfather of actor James Cagney IV.
Great grandfather of actress Fiona Cagney.
Great uncle of Pattee Mack.
Great-great uncle of Brian Harrison Mack.
Had two adopted children, Cathleen "Cassie" and James Jr.
He is the father-in-law of screenplay writer Jack W. Thomas, who married his daughter Cathleen on February 17, 1962.
He once claimed that problems with Horst Buchholz had convinced him to retire from acting.
He refused payment for his cameo in "The Seven Little Foys" (1955) even though he spent ten days learning his complicated tap routine for the film.
He was voted the 11th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine.
He was voted the 14th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
His electric acting style was a huge influence on future generations of actors. Actors as diverse as Clint Eastwood and Malcolm McDowell point to him as their number one influence to become actors.
His performance as George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) is ranked #6 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
His performance as Tom Powers in The Public Enemy (1931) is ranked #57 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
His widow Frances (nicknamed 'Bill') outlived Cagney by eight years, dying aged 95 in 1994.
In 1973, he was offered the title role in the comedy Harry and Tonto, but Cagney, who was then 74 year-old and hadn't starred in a feature film since 1961, didn't want to come out of retirement. The role, and the Best Actor Oscar, would go to Art Carney.
In his autobiography, he mentions that while in the chorus of the musical "Pitter Patter", he earned $55 a week, of which he sent $40 a week home to his mother. As his salary increased, so did the amount he sent back home. In The Public Enemy (1931), he earned $400 a week, sending over $300 back home. Until his mother passed, he never kept more than 50% of his earnings.
Inspiration for the Madonna song, "White Heat", from her album, True Blue.
Interred at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne, New York, USA.
James Cagney is caricaturized in a Merrie Melodies short cartoon called Hollywood Steps Out directed by Tex Avery (Warner Brothers 1941). The action takes place in the famed Ciro's nightclub where the Hollywood stars are having dinner. Cagney informs Humphrey Bogart and George Raft that they must prepare to do something risky. The trio of "tough guys" get ready, turn start pitching pennies.
James Cagney was originally cast as Robin Hood, but walked out on his contract with Warner brothers, paving the way for Errol Flynn, although filming was postponed three years.
Lived in a Gramercy Park building in New York City that was also occupied by Margaret Hamilton and now boasts Jimmy Fallon as one of its tenants.
Lost the role of Knute Rockne to his friend Pat O'Brien when the administration of Notre Dame - which had approval over all aspects of the filming - nixed Cagney because of his support of the far-left (and anti-Catholic) Spanish Republic in the then-ongoing Spanish Civil War.
Named the #8 greatest Actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends List by The American Film Institute
Often left the set early claiming he was too ill to continue filming in order to ensure an extra day of filming so that the extras and the film crew, whom he thought woefully underpaid, could get an additional day's salary.
Often said that he did not understand the method actors like Marlon Brando. Cagney admitted that he used his own personal experiences to help create his performances and encouraged other actors to do so, but he did not understand actors who felt a need to go to the extreme length that method actors went to.
Once worked as a waiter.
Originally a very left-wing Democrat activist during the 1930s, Cagney later switched his viewpoint and became progressively more conservative with age. He supported his friend Ronald Reagan's campaigns for the Governorship of California in 1966 and 1970, as well as his Presidential campaigns in 1980 and 1984. President Reagan delivered the eulogy at Cagney's funeral in 1986.