FIlmography
1930
Sinners’ Holiday
The Doorway to Hell
1931
Smart Money
The Millionaire
Other Men’s Women
1932
Winner Take All
The Crowd Roars
Taxi!
1933
Lady Killer
The Mayor of Hell
Picture Snatcher
Hard to Handle
1934
The St. Louis Kid
Here Comes the Navy
He Was Her Man
Jimmy the Gent
1935
The Irish in Us
G Men
Devil Dogs of the Air
Frisco Kid
1936
Great Guy
Ceiling Zero
1937
Something to Sing About
1938
Angels with Dirty Faces
Boy Meets Girl
1939
Each Dawn I Die
The Oklahoma Kid
1940
City for Conquest
Torrid Zone
The Fighting 69th
1941
The Bride Came C.O.D.
1942
Captains of the Clouds
1943
Johnny Come Lately
You, John Jones!
1945
Blood on the Sun
1947
13 Rue Madeleine
1948
The Time of Your Life
1949
1950
The West Point Story
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
1951
Starlift
Come Fill the Cup
1952
What Price Glory?
1953
A Lion Is in the Streets
1955
The Seven Little Foys
Love Me or Leave Me
Run for Cover
1956
These Wilder Years
Tribute to a Bad Man
1957
Short Cut to Hell
Man of a Thousand Faces
1959
Shake Hands with the Devil
Never Steal Anything Small
1960
The Gallant Hours
1961
One, Two, Three
1981
Ragtime
Awards
He was nominated for 3 Best Actor in a Leading Role Academy Awards and won one.
1939 Angels with Dirty Faces
1943 Yankee Doodle Dandy – won
1956 Love Me or Leave Me
James Cagney: Learn more about him, review his filmography and more
James Cagney was an actor and dancer, both on stage and in film, though he had his greatest impact in film. Known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing, he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances. He is best remembered for playing multifaceted tough guys in movies such as The Public Enemy (1931), Taxi! (1932), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), and White Heat (1949), and was typecast or limited by this view earlier in his career.
Cagney’s seventh film, The Public Enemy , became one of the most influential gangster movies of the period. Notable for a famous scene in which Cagney pushes a grapefruit against Mae Clarke’s face, the film thrust him into the spotlight. He became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars and one of Warner Bros.’ 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 won the Oscar for his energetic 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 from acting and dancing in 1961 to spend time on his farm with his family. He exited retirement, 20 years later, for a part in the movie Ragtime (1981).
Cagney walked out on Warner Bros. several times over the course of his career, each time returning on much improved personal and artistic terms. In 1935, he sued Warner for breach of contract and won. This was one of the first times an actor prevailed over a studio on a contract issue. He worked for an independent film company for a year while the suit was being settled—and established his own production company, Cagney Productions, in 1942, before returning to Warner four years later. In reference to Cagney’s refusal to be pushed around, Jack L. Warner called him “the Professional Againster”. 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.
He died in 1986.
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