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James Cagney
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With his raspy voice, and staccato vocal inflections James Cagney was one of the brightest stars in American cinema history. The son of an Irish father and a Norwegian mother who lived and worked in New York's Lower Eastside, Cagney did a variety of odd jobs to help support his family, including working as a waiter, and a poolroom racker, and even a female impersonator in a Yorkville revue. This humble beginning led to joining the chorus in the Broadway show Pitter-Patter, followed by a vaudeville tour with his wife Francis. By 1925, Cagney had begun to play Broadway leads; he was particularly successful in the musical Penny Arcade, which lead him to be cast in the Hollywood version, renamed Sinner's Holiday (1930). Within a year, Cagney had been signed by Warner Bros., where, in his fifth movie role, he played the ruthless gangster in Public Enemy, the 1931 film that made him a star. Cagney was a small, rather plain looking man, and had few of the external qualities usually associated with the traditional Hollywood leading man during the '30s.
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If you're looking for an impersonal, gossipy, take-no-prisoners account of James Cagney's life, this is not the book for you. Author John McCabe is in love with his subject. After ghost-writing Cagney's autobiography in the 1970s, the two remained close until Cagney's death in 1986. But his bias toward the actor, whom McCabe describes as "a great artist and an even greater man," has opened many doors. In particular, it has allowed McCabe to collect an immense repository of quotations and testimonials from Cagney's friends and from the actor himself. Dipping frequently into his archive, McCabe has fashioned a book that makes for a thrilling, revelatory read.
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James Cagney caught the public's attention as a tough-talking gangster in 1931's The Public Enemy. Cagney was originally a song-and-dance man in vaudeville and spent much of the 1920s onstage in New York. Fast-talking, energetic and animated, he became known for his streetwise gangster movie roles, but it was his singing and dancing as composer George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) that earned him an Oscar as best actor. His later films were not as memorable or successful, but Cagney's star power never diminished and he became an icon of the silver screen. He returned from a 20-year retirement in 1981 take a small role in Ragtime. Cagney's 1976 autobiography was titled Cagney By Cagney.
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Synopsis: One screen legend tips his hat to another as James Cagney portrays horror film icon Lon Chaney in Man of a Thousand Faces. Joseph Pevney's bio-pic takes a somewhat whitewashed view of Chaney's career, but Cagney is nothing short of riveting in the lead. The film begins as Chaney, the son of twoRead More
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Big-city gangster James Cagney is given a patronage job by his political machine bosses and is sent to inspect the state reform school. When he learns of the brutal treatment the boys receive under a sadistic warden, an incensed Cagney takes over the school and, with help from a sympathetic nurses, tries to improve conditions. Intriguing blend of Warners' crime and social drama genres ... stars Frankie Darro, Madge Evans, Dudley Digges. Standard; Soundtrack: English.
This special signature boxset really proves James Cagney as being one of the most brilliant actors in Hollywood history, no one knows how to play an on screen tough guy like him. The 4 movies in this boxset are all brilliant, very entertaining and movies you won't won't grow tired of. The most famous movie in this boxset is Angels With Dirty Faces, it's probably Cagney's most famous movie...and generally its a movie not to be missed, it has a good story with 3 of the top actors at the time. Angels with Dirty FAces is well worth the money alone.
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James Cagney