James Cagney

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James Francis Cagney, Jr. (born July 17, 1899 in New York City , † March 30, 1986 in Stanford , New York , USA ) was an American film actor . His fellow actor Charlton Heston called Cagney "one of the most significant characters of a generation when American cinema dominated". He achieved fame as a die-hard gangster in classics such as The Public Enemy , Angels with Dirty Faces and Leap to Death . However, he was also successful as a dancer and comedian, winning the Oscar for Best Actor for his appearance as a showman in Yankee Doodle Dandy . The American Film Institute voted Cagney the 8th greatest male film legends of all time.

life and career

Early life and theater career

Cagney was born on the Lower East Side ( Manhattan ) of New York City to an Irishman and a Norwegian-Irish mother. His father, James Francis Cagney, Sr. worked as a bartender and amateur boxer. His mother Carolyn (nee Nelson) was the daughter of a Norwegian ship captain.

Cagney was the second of seven children; two siblings died shortly after their birth. Ailing as a child, Cagney graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1918 and went to Columbia University , where he completed his art degree. Cagney, whose father had died of the flu in 1918 , had to do odd jobs to help feed the family. By chance he got into acting and began performing as a mime and comedian in the theater. At first the success was modest. In the mid-1920s, he drew attention to himself with major roles in Broadway plays; Penny Arcade gave him his final breakthrough in 1929.

Career as a movie star

Cagney had first film roles in Hollywood in 1930, in his first films still in supporting roles. He became a movie star in 1931 for his role as brutal gang boss Tom Powers in the gangster film The Public Enemy , in which Cagney crushed half a grapefruit on the face of his lover (played by Mae Clarke ) at breakfast . With Edward G. Robinson , the other well-known gangster actor of the 1930s and 1940s, he immediately shot the gangster film Easy Money , which is set in a gambling environment. Edward G. Robinson is seen as a gang boss with a weakness for blondes, while James Cagney plays his "right hand". The role in The Public Enemy resulted in Cagney receiving the gangster image, although he mostly appeared in other roles.

Cagney then only played five gangsters - namely in Chicago - angels with dirty faces , in The Roaring Twenties , in Leap to Death , in You Won't See Tomorrow and in Tyrannical Love - but he was still strong with the image of the hardened criminal identified. He was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Chicago - Angels with Dirty Faces . The film tells the story of two boys who grow up together; one boy later becomes a gangster, the other a priest. Cagney played the gang boss. Even Humphrey Bogart participated as a corrupt lawyer. James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart also shot The Roaring Twenties , in which they play two war comrades and later boon , as well as the Western Oklahoma Kid . In 1935, Cagney slipped into the opposite role of the cop in The FBI Agent .

For most of his film career, Cagney worked for Warner Brothers , but despite the long collaboration, relationships between him and the studio were mostly strained. Cagney demanded more rights from the studio, for example that he could choose his roles himself - studio boss Jack L. Warner called him the "professional Againster" (German: "professional naysayer"). Overall, he left the studio several times during his career, each time to return to improved contractual terms with greater artistic freedom. In 1935 he and Warner Bros. fought a breach of contract, which Cagney eventually won. In the 1940s, after a renewed dispute with Warner, he founded his own production company under the name Cagney Productions, which only existed for a few years. He also campaigned for the rights of his fellow actors and served as president of the Screen Actors Guild for two years .

In addition to unsympathetic gangsters, Cagney played boxers, reporters, secret agents, pilots, and likable con men like in A Charming Impostor . With Bette Davis he filmed The Bride Came on Delivery , a comedy in which James Cagney as a pilot kidnaps the bride played by Bette Davis on behalf of her own father in order to prevent her from marrying a bandleader who does not like him, both of them in the Strand in the desert. In 1935, Cagney played his most unusual role in A Midsummer Night's Dream , a film adaptation of William Shakespeare 's comedy of the same name . James Cagney played the "note", a young man who is turned into a donkey. Cagney received an Oscar in 1942 for his role as composer and impresario George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy , a mixture of musical and biography . He repeated the role of George M. Cohan in 1955 in Comedy Children , a film about the stage comedian Eddie Foy , which was played by Bob Hope . Cagney played the actor Lon Chaney in the biopic The Man with 1000 Faces . Chaney was a silent movie actor who was famous for his grotesque masks. He played leading roles in silent film versions of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and The Phantom of the Opera .

James Cagney's grave in the Gate of Heaven Cemetery

Retirement and comeback

In 1961 Cagney played the character of CR MacNamara, the West Berlin manager of Coca-Cola in the comedy One, Two, Three , directed by Billy Wilder . The film was unsuccessful when it was released, but later achieved cult status, especially in Germany. The shooting was exhausting and Cagney had some arguments with his fellow actor Horst Buchholz . He eventually decided to retire from the acting business. For the next 20 years he only appeared as the narrative voice of two films. Cagney turned down various roles such as Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady (1964) or Hyman Roth in The Godfather - Part II (1974).

In 1974 he received the AFI Life Achievement Award for life's work. After a stroke in the late 1970s, he found some of his hobbies such as horse riding and dancing increasingly difficult, which at times caused him to become depressed. He then returned to acting. In 1981 James Cagney made his surprising comeback . In the drama Ragtime , directed by Miloš Forman , he embodied a relatively small but important role as police chief. He made his last appearance in 1984 in the television movie Nick is in a fix , where he played a former boxer in a wheelchair.

Private life and death

James Cagney was married to Frances Cagney (1899-1994) from 1922 until his death, a total of 64 years. They had two children. On March 30, 1986, Cagney died of a heart attack at the age of 86 in his Dutchess County residence . The funeral took place at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery , the funeral address was given by the then US President Ronald Reagan , a good friend of Cagney.

Filmography

Director

  • 1957: With Satan on You (Short Cut to Hell)

Awards

  • 1938: New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for Chicago - Angels with Dirty Faces
  • 1939: Oscar nomination (Best Actor) for Chicago - Angels with Dirty Faces
  • 1942: New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for Yankee Doodle Dandy
  • 1943: Oscar (Best Actor) for Yankee Doodle Dandy
  • 1956: Oscar nomination (Best Actor) for Tyrannical Love
  • 1974: AFI Life Achievement Award (prize from the renowned American Film Institute) for his life's work
  • 1977: Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award for life's work and services to acting
  • 1978: Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild Awards for lifetime achievement
  • 1981: Career Achievement Award from the National Board of Review
  • 1984: Presidential Medal of Freedom

synchronization

Many of Cagey's synchronizations were taken over by Wolfgang Draeger . Other voice actors who lent their voice to Cagney were Hans Hessling and Horst Niendorf .

literature

  • Andrew Bergman : James Cagney. His films, his life. (OT: James Cagney ). Heyne-Filmbibliothek, Volume 16. Heyne, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-453-86016-0 .
  • Michael Hanisch: "Song-and-Dance-Man". For James Cagney's 100th birthday. In: film service. 52nd year No. 14/1999, pp. 10-12. ISSN  0720-0781 .

Web links

Commons : James Cagney  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ("... one of the most significant figures of a generation when American film was dominant") Charleton Heston: James Cagney: Life Achievement Award 74 Tribute Address . AFI . 1974. Retrieved February 23, 2009.
  2. ^ McGilligan, 14
  3. ^ McCabe, p. 5
  4. ^ Warren, p. 4
  5. ↑ John McCabe: [ Cagney ( February 9, 2002 memento in the Internet Archive ) Cagney] . New York Times, (Retrieved November 1, 2007).
  6. ↑ Peter Flint: James Cagney Is Dead at 86; Master of Pugnacious Grace . In: New York Times , March 31, 1986. Retrieved November 1, 2007. 
  7. ^ McGilligan, 16
personal data
SURNAME Cagney, James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cagney, James Francis Junior (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film actor
DATE OF BIRTH July 17, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH March 30, 1986
Place of death Stanford , New York , USA