James Francis Cagney Jr. (July 17, 1899 - March 30, 1986) is an American actor and dancer, both onstage and in the film, although he has the greatest influence in the film. Known for his consistently energetic performance, distinctive vocal style, and sudden comic timing, he won great acclaim and appreciation for various performances. He's best remembered for playing with a lot of tough players in movies like The Public Enemy (1931), Taxi! (1932), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), and White Heat (1949), and was typecasted or limited by this view earlier in his career. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth among the biggest male star list of Hollywood Classic Cinema. Orson Welles said of Cagney, "[he] was probably the greatest actor ever to appear in front of the camera", and Stanley Kubrick regarded him as one of the best actors of all time.
In her first professional acting performance, Cagney danced in a costume as a woman in the chorus line of the Sailors of Every Seafar, in 1919. She spent several years in vaudeville as a dancer and comedian, until she earned her first acting piece major in 1925. He earned several other roles, receiving good notices, before landing the starring actor in the 1929 drama Penny Arcade . After a warm welcome, Warner Bros signed his first contract $ 500 per week, three weeks to re-enact 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 films of the time. Famous for the famous scene in which Cagney pushed grapefruit against Mae Clarke's face, the film pushed him into the spotlight. She became one of the biggest Hollywood stars and one of Warner Bros. 'the biggest contract. In 1938, he received his first Academy Award for Best Actor nomination, for Angels with Dirty Faces, for his delicate depiction of the tough guy/boy-boy Rocky Sullivan. In 1942, Cagney won an Oscar for his energetic portrayal of George M. Cohan at Yankee Doodle Dandy . She was nominated for the third time in 1955 for Love Me or Leave Me . Cagney retired from acting and danced in 1961 to spend time in his farm with his family. He came out of retirement 20 years later for the part in Ragtime movie (1981), primarily to help his recovery from a stroke.
Cagney walks out at Warner Bros. several times during his career, each time returning to much better personal and artistic requirements. In 1935, he sued Warner for breaking the contract and winning. This is one of the first times an actor wins over a studio on contract issues. He worked for an independent film company for a year while the lawsuit was settled - and founded his own production company, Cagney Productions, in 1942, before returning to Warner four years later. In connection with the rejection of Cagney to be urged, Jack L. Warner called him "the Professional Againter". Cagney also made many tour troops raise morale before and during World War II and became president of the Screen Actors Guild for two years.
Video James Cagney
Kehidupan awal
James Francis "Jimmy" Cagney was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. His biographers disagree with the actual location: either on the corner of Avenue D and 8th Street or in the upstairs apartment on 391 East Eighth Street, the address indicated by his birth certificate. His father, James Francis Cagney Sr (1875-1918), was of Irish descent. At the time of his son's birth, he was a bartender and amateur boxer, although on the Cagney birth certificate, he was listed as a telegraphist. His mother was Carolyn (nÃÆ' Â © e Nelson; 1877-1945); his father was a Norwegian ship captain while his mother was Irish.
Cagney is the second of seven children, two of whom died within months of birth. She is sickly as a child - so much so that her mother is afraid she will die before she can be baptized. He then connects his illness with poverty to his family. The family moved twice when he was young, first to East 79th Street, and then to East 96th Street. He was confirmed at St. Catholic Church. Francis de Sales Roma in Manhattan, where he will eventually get his funeral service.
Red-eyed and blue-eyed Cagney graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York City, in 1918, and studied at Columbia College of Columbia University, where he intends to major in Art. He also took on Germany and joined the Student Army Training Corps but broke up after a semester, returning home after the death of his father during the 1918 flu pandemic.
Cagney held various jobs early in life, giving all her income to her family: a junior architect, a copy boy for New York Sun, a bookkeeper at the New York Public Library, a bellhop, a draftsman, and night porter. While Cagney works for the New York Public Library, she meets Florence James, who helps her in an acting career. Cagney believes in hard work, then states, "It's good for me, I feel sorry for the child who is too good at that moment, suddenly he has to come face-to-face with the reality of life without mama or dad to do his thinking for him."
She started dancing tap as a boy (a skill that eventually contributed to the Academy Award) and was nicknamed "Cellar-Door Cagney" after her habit of dancing at the sloping cellar door. He is a good street warrior, defending his older brother Harry, a medical student, when necessary. He was involved in amateur boxing, and became runner-up for the lightweight New York State. His coach encouraged him to become a professional, but his mother did not allow it. He also played baseball semiprofessional for local teams, and enjoyed the dream of playing in the Premiership.
The introduction of the movie is unusual. When visiting an aunt living in Brooklyn across from Vitagraph Studios, Cagney will climb over the fence to watch John Bunny's films. He became involved in amateur dramas, starting as a boy of sights for the Chinese pantomime at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, one of the first settlement homes in the country, where his brother Harry appeared and his soon-to-be buddy, Florence James, directed. She initially works behind the scenes and is not interested in performing. One night, however, Harry becomes ill, and although Cagney is not a substitute, his photographic memory of practice allows him to defend his brother without making a single mistake. Therefore, Florence James has a unique distinction as the first director to put her on stage. After that, he joined a number of companies as players in various roles.
Maps James Cagney
Careers
1919-30: Early career
While working at Wanamaker Department Store in 1919, Cagney learned, from a colleague who has seen her dance, a role in the upcoming production Every Sailor . A wartime drama in which the chorus consists of a soldier dressed as a woman, it was originally titled Every Woman . Cagney auditioned for the role of the choir girl, though he considered wasting her time; he only knew one dance step, a complicated Peabody, but he knew it perfectly. This was enough to convince the producer that he could dance, and he copied the movements of other dancers while waiting to continue. She does not feel strange to play a woman, nor do she feel ashamed. He then remembered how he could unleash a natural shy personality when he stepped onto the stage: "Because there I am not myself.I am not that person, Jim Cagney, altogether.I obviously lose his consciousness when I wear skirts, wigs, paints , powder, feathers and spangles. "
If Cagney's mother succeeds, her stage career will end when she stops Every Sailor after two months; proud of her appearance, she preferred that she get an education. Cagney appreciated the $ 35 a week he paid, which he called "the mountain of money for me on an alarming day." To honor her mother's worries, she gets a job as a broker house runner. This did not stop him looking for more stage work, however, and he went on to successfully audition for chorus parts in the musical William B. Friedlander Pitter Patter , which he earned $ 55 per week - he sent $ 40 to his mother every Sunday. As strong as his habit of holding more than one job at a time, he also works as a makeup artist for one of the leaders, illuminates the luggage of the players, and learns to lead. Among the choir players was Frances Willard of 16, "Billie" Vernon, whom he married in 1922.
The show started a 10-year association of Cagney with vaudeville and Broadway. Cagney and his wife were among the early residents of Free Acres, a social experiment founded by Bolton Hall in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey.
Pitter Patter was not a huge success, but was successful enough for 32 weeks, allowing Cagney to join the vaudeville circuit. He and Vernon toured separately with a number of different entourages, reuniting as "Vernon and Nye" to perform simple comedy routines and music numbers. "Nye" is the real rearrangement of the last syllable of the Cagney family name. One of the groups who joined Cagney was Parker, Rand, and Leach, taking over an empty spot when Archie Leach - who later changed his name to Cary Grant - left.
After years of touring and struggling to make money, Cagney and Vernon moved to Hawthorne, California, in 1924, partly for Cagney to meet his new mother-in-law, who had just moved there from Chicago, and partly to investigate breaking into the film. Their train fare was paid by a friend, the Pitter Patter press officer, who was also desperate to act. They were not successful at first; the dance studio that Cagney founded had several clients and folded, and Vernon and he toured the studio, but did not collect flowers. Finally, they borrowed some money and returned to New York through Chicago and Milwaukee, failing along the way as they tried to make money on stage.
Cagney secured his first significant nondancing role in 1925. He played a tough young man in a three-shot drama Outside Looking In by Maxwell Anderson, earning $ 200 a week. Like Pitter Patter, Cagney went to the audition with little confidence that she would get her share. He has no experience with drama at this time. Cagney feels that she only gets the role because her hair is redder than Alan Bunce, the only other redheaded player in New York. Both the game and Cagney received good reviews; The Life magazine writes, "Mr. Cagney, in a less spectacular role [than his co-star] made a few minutes silence during his test scenes something that many more established actors might watch for profit." Burns Mantle writes that it "... contains the most honest acting now to be seen in New York."
Following the show for four months, Cagney returns to vaudeville for the next few years. He achieved varying success, but after appearing on Outside Looking In, Cagneys was more financially secure. During this period, he met George M. Cohan, whom he later described in Yankee Doodle Dandy, although they never spoke.
Cagney secured a major role in the 1926-27 season of West End production from Broadway by George Abbott. Event management insisted that he copy the performance of Broadway leader Lee Tracy, despite Cagney's discomfort in doing so, but the day before the event for England, they decided to replace him. This is the turn of a devastating event for Cagney; Apart from the logistical difficulties presented - the couple's suitcases were in the hold of the ship and they had delivered their apartments. He almost quit the show business. As Vernon remembers, "Jimmy says it's over, he decides he'll get a job by doing something else."
The Cagneys has a run-of-the-play contract, which lasts during that play. Vernon was on the show's choir line, and with help from the Actors' Equity Association, Cagney awakened Tracy to the Broadway show, giving them much-needed permanent income. Cagney also founded a dance school for professionals, then took part in the drama Women Go On Forever, directed by John Cromwell, which lasted for four months. At the end of the race, Cagney was exhausted from acting and running a dance school.
He has built a reputation as an innovative teacher, so when he was elected to the lead role in the Grand Street Follies of 1928 , he was also appointed choreographer. The event was warmly received and followed by the Grand Street Follies of 1929 . This role caused the inside of George Kelly's Maggie the Magnificent, a game that critics disliked, even though they liked the appearance of Cagney. Cagney sees this role (and Women Go on Forever ) as significant because of the talented directors she meets. He learned "... what a director can do and what a director can do, they are directors who can play all the parts in the drama better than the actors who play their part."
1930-35: Warner Bros.
Playing against Cagney at Maggie the Magnificent is Joan Blondell, who starred again with her a few months later in the new drama Marie Baumer Penny Arcade . While critics highlight the Penny Arcade, they praise Cagney and Blondell. Al Jolson, feeling the potential of the movie, bought the rights for $ 20,000. He then sold the game to Warner Bros, provided that they threw Cagney and Blondell in the film version. Titled Sinners' Holiday , the film was released in 1930. Cagney was given a $ 500 contract per week for three weeks.
In the film, he portrays Harry Delano, a tough guy who became a murderer, but earns sympathy for his disadvantaged care. The role of this "evil" sympathetic person is a recurring character type for Cagney throughout his career. During the filming of Sinners' Holiday , he also showed stubbornness that marked his work attitude. He then recalls an argument he had with director John Adolfi about a line: "There is a line on the show where I should be crying on my mother's chest... [Line] is' I'm your baby, ain 'me?' I refused to say it, Adolfi said, "I will tell Zanuck." I said 'I do not care what you say to him, I will not say that sentence.' "They took that line.
Despite this explosion, the studio loves it, and before its three-week contract runs out - while the movie is still filming - they gave Cagney a three-week extension, followed by a full seven-year contract at $ 400 per week. The contract, however, allows Warner to drop it at the end of each 40-week period, effectively guaranteeing only 40 weeks of income at a time. Like when he was growing up, Cagney split his income with his family. Cagney received good reviews, and immediately starred in other gangster roles at The Doorway to Hell . The film became a financial hit, helping to enhance Cagney's reputation. He made four more films before his breakthrough role.
Warner brothers? the succession of gangster hit, especially Little Caesar with Edward G. Robinson, culminated in the 1931 film The Public Enemy. Due to the strong reviews in his short film career, Cagney plays the role of good man Matt Doyle, against Edward Woods as Tom Powers. However, after the initial rush, each reassigned the other part. The film is only worth $ 151,000 to be made, but the film became one of the first low-budget films up to $ 1 million.
Cagney received wide acclaim for her role. The New York Herald Tribune describes her performance as "... the most cruel and obscene judgment of a small murderous cruelty that cinema has not yet created." She received the top bills after the movie, but while she recognizes the importance of the role for her career, she has always denied that it changed the way heroes and main characters are portrayed; he quoted Clark Gable's assault on Barbara Stanwyck six months earlier (in Night Nurse) as more important. Night Nurse was actually released three months after The Public Enemy, and Gable pressed Stanwyck in the movie, dropped his character unconscious, then took him across the hall, where he woke up. then.
Many critics see scenes in which Cagney pushes grapefruit into Mae Clarke's face as one of the most famous moments in film history. The scene itself is a late addition, and the thought of the idea is a matter of debate. Producer Darryl Zanuck admits he thought about it in the script conference, director William Wellman said the idea came to him when he saw grapefruit on the table during filming, and the author of Glasmon and Bright claimed it was based on real-life gangster Hymie Weiss, who threw the omelet into his girlfriend's face. Cagney himself usually quotes the author's version, but the fruit victim, Clarke, agrees that it is Wellman's idea, saying, "I'm sorry I once agreed to do a grapefruit bits.I never dreamed it would be featured in the film.Chapter Director Bill Wellman thought of the idea suddenly it's not even written into the script. "
However, according to Turner Classic Movies (TCM), the grapefruit scene is a practical joke that Cagney and costar Mae Clarke decided to play in the crew while the camera is rolling. Wellman loved it so much that he let it in. TCM also noted that the scene made Clarke's ex-husband Lew Brice very happy. "He watched the movie over and over just to see the scene, and was often interrupted by angry customers when his laughter was too loud."
Cagney's stubbornness became famous behind the scenes, not least after his refusal to join the 100% charity work without participation encouraged by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Cagney does not object to donating money to charity, but is forced to do so. Already he earned the nickname "The Professional Againster".
Warner Bros. quickly combines two gangster stars - Edward G. Robinson and Cagney - for the 1931 movie Smart Money . So the most interesting is the studio to follow up on the success of Robinson Little Caesar that Cagney actually fired on Smart Money (where she received second billing in supporting roles) at the same time as The Public Enemy . As in The Public Enemy, Cagney is required to physically abuse a woman on screen, signaling that Warner Bros. is eager to keep Cagney public. This time, he slapped a fellow star Evalyn Knapp.
With the introduction of the 1930 Movie Movie Production Code of the United States, and especially his decree on screen violence, Warners allowed Cagney to change his pace. They threw it in the Blond Crazy comedy, again across from Blondell. When he finished filming, The Public Enemy was filling theaters with performances throughout the night. Cagney starts comparing his salary with his colleagues, thinking his contract allows for a salary adjustment based on his film's success. Warner Bros. did not agree, however, and refused to give him a raise. The head of the studio also insisted that Cagney continue to promote their movies, even the movies he did not enter, which he opposed. Cagney moved back to New York, leaving his brother, Bill, to take care of his apartment.
While Cagney is in New York, his brother, effectively becoming his agent, is eyeing a big pay rise and more personal freedom for his brother. The success of The Public Enemy and Blonde Crazy forced Warner Bros. hand. They finally offer Cagney's contract for $ 1000 a week. The first movie Cagney on his way back from New York was 1932's Taxi! . The film is notorious for not only being the first time Cagney was dancing on screen, but it was also the last time she allowed herself to be shot with a sharp bullet (a relatively common occurrence at the time, since empty bullets and squibs are considered too expensive and hard to find for use in most movie movie). He has been shot at The Public Enemy, but during filming for the Taxi! , he almost got hit.
In the opening scene, Cagney speaks fluent Yiddish, a language she took during her childhood in New York City. Critics praised the movie.
Taxi! is the source of one of Cagney's most misquoted lines; he never really said, "MMMmmm, you dirty rats!", a line commonly used by impressionists. The closest thing he got in the movie was, "Get out and grab your dirty, yellow-stomach mice, or I'll give it to you through the door!" The movie was quickly followed by The Crowd Roars and Winner Take All .
Despite his success, Cagney remains dissatisfied with his contract. He wants more money for his successful films, but he also offers to take a smaller salary if his star is reduced. Warner Bros. refused, so Cagney was once again out. He handed out $ 4000 a week, the same salary as Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Kay Francis. Warner Bros. refused to goa today, and suspended Cagney. Cagney announces that he will do the next three photos for free if they cancel five years left on his contract. He also threatened to quit Hollywood and return to Columbia University to follow his brothers to medicine. After six months of suspension, Frank Capra brokered a deal that increased Cagney's salary to about $ 3,000 a week, and guaranteed the highest bills and no more than four movies in a year.
After learning about the block-booking studio system that almost guaranteed the studio's huge profits, Cagney was determined to spread wealth. He regularly sends money and stuff to old friends from his neighborhood, though he does not make this publicly known. His firmness at no more than four films per year is based on his having watched actors - even teenagers - regularly working 100 hours a week to produce more movies. This experience was an integral reason for his involvement in forming the Screen Actors Guild in 1933.
Cagney returned to the studio and made Hard to Handle in 1933. This was followed by a steady stream of films, including the highly respected Footlight Parade, which gave Cagney the chance to return to the roots songs and dances. The film includes a mesmerizing scene with Busby Berkeley-choreographed routines. The next famous film is 1934
In 1935, Cagney was listed as one of the Top Ten Moneymakers in Hollywood for the first time, and more often played a role in nongangster; he plays as a lawyer who joins the FBI at G-Men, and he also takes his first role, and the only one, Shakespeare, as Nick Bottom is billed top in Midsummer Night's Dream > i> with Joe E. Brown as Flute and Mickey Rooney as Puck
Cagney's last film in 1935 was Ceiling Zero , his third film with Pat O'Brien. O'Brien received the top bill, which clearly violates Cagney's contract. This, combined with the fact that Cagney had made five films in 1934, again against the terms of his contract, caused him to file a lawsuit against Warner Bros.. for breach of contract. The dispute lasted for several months. Cagney received a call from David Selznick and Sam Goldwyn, but did not feel in a position to offer him work while the dispute continued. Meanwhile, when represented by his brother, William in court, Cagney returns to New York to find a country property where he can indulge his desire to farm.
1936-37: The Independent Year
Cagney spent most of the following year in his field, and returned to work only when Edward L. Alperson of Grand National Films, a newly established independent studio, approached him to film the $ 100,000 film and 10% of his profits. Cagney made two films for Grand National: Great Guy and Something to Sing About . He received good reviews for both, but overall his production quality was not in line with Warner Bros. standards, and his films did not go well. The third movie, Dynamite , was planned, but Grand National ran out of money.
Cagney was also involved in political matters, and in 1936, agreed to sponsor the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League. Unknown Cagney, the League is actually a front organization for the Communist International (Komintern), which seeks support for the Soviet Union and its foreign policy.
The court finally decided on Warner Bros.'s lawsuit to support Cagney. He has done what many people think: take the studio and win. Not only did he win, but Warner Bros. also knew that he still pulled their box office draw and invited him back for a five-year contract, $ 150,000 per movie, with no more than two pictures a year. Cagney also said entirely about what film he did and did not make. In addition, William Cagney secured the position of assistant producer for the films starring her brother.
Cagney has demonstrated the power walkout in keeping the studio to their word. He then explained the reason, saying, "I am out because I depend on the head of the studio to keep this promise, that or any other promise, and when the promise is not maintained, my only way out is to deprive them of my service." Cagney himself admitted the importance of walkout for other actors in breaking the dominance of the studio system. Usually, when a star comes out, when he is absent is added to the end of a long-standing contract, as happened with Olivia de Havilland and Bette Davis. Cagney, however, walked out and returned to a better contract. Many people in Hollywood watch this case thoroughly for clues as to how future contracts can be dealt with.
Artistically, the Grand National experiment was a success for Cagney, who was able to shift away from the traditional role of Cower Warner Bros. who dared to a more sympathetic character. How far he can experiment and develop will never be known, but back to the fold of Warner, he once again plays as a tough player.
1938-42: Return to Warner Bros.
Two Cagney movies in 1938, Boy Meets Girl and Angels with Dirty Faces, both starring Pat O'Brien. The former has Cagney in a comedic role, and receives mixed reviews. Warner Bros. has allowed Cagney to change his pace, but wants to get him back to play those tough, more profitable people. Ironically, the script for Angels is one that Cagney hopes to do when with the Grand National, but the studio can not get funding.
Cagney starred as Rocky Sullivan, a gangster who just got out of jail and looking for his former colleague, played by Humphrey Bogart, who owes him money. While reviewing his old place, he meets his old friend Jerry Connolly, played by O'Brien, who is now a priest concerned about the future of the Dead End Kids, especially when they idolize Rocky. After a shootout of a mess, Sullivan was eventually arrested by police and sentenced to death in an electric chair. Connolly pleads with Rocky to "turn yellow" on the way to a chair so the Children will lose their admiration for her, and hopefully not turn to crime. Sullivan refuses, but on his way to execution, he breaks down and begs for his life. It is not clear whether this coward is real or just pretending to benefit children. Cagney himself refused to say, insisting that he liked the ambiguity. The film is considered by many to be one of the best in Cagney, and gave her an Academy Award for Best Actor award in 1938. She lost to Spencer Tracy in Boys Town. Cagney has been considered for the role, but lost due to its typecasting. (He also lost the role of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne at Knights Rockne, All American to his friend, Pat O'Brien for the same reason.) However, Cagney, won the New York movie this year. Critics Circle Award for Best Actor.
The previous insistence on not shooting with live ammunition proved to be a good decision. After being notified while filming the Angels with Dirty Faces that he would perform a scene with a real machine-gun bullet (a common practice in Hollywood at the time), Cagney refused and insisted that his image be added afterwards. Apparently, the bullet bounced right through where his head would be.
During his first year back at Warner Bros., Cagney became the top producer in the studio, earning $ 324,000. He completed the first decade of filming in 1939 with The Roaring Twenties, his first film with Raoul Walsh and the last with Bogart. After
The next important role is as George M. Cohan at Yankee Doodle Dandy , the movie Cagney "is very proud" and considers the best. Producer Hal Wallis says that after seeing Cohan on Rather Be Right, he never considers anyone other than Cagney for that part. Cagney, though, insisted that Fred Astaire had been the first choice, but refused.
The filming began the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the cast and crew worked in "patriotic madness" because US involvement in World War II gave players and crew a sense that "they may send the last message from the free world," according to Rosemary actress DeCamp. Cohan was given a private show of the film shortly before his death, and thanked Cagney "for a great job". A paid premium, with seats ranging from $ 25 to $ 25,000, raised $ 5,750,000 for war bonds for US cash.
Many critics have time and since then declared Cagney's best film, drawing a parallel between Cohan and Cagney; they both started their careers in vaudeville, fought for years before reaching the top of their profession, surrounded by family and married early, and both had wives who loved to sit back while he became a star. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won three, including Cagney's for Best Actor. In his acceptance speech, Cagney says, "I always maintain that in this business, you are just as good as other people think you are.It is good to know that you people think I do a good job And do not I also forget that it is a good part too. "
1942-48: Independent again
Cagney announced in March 1942 that his brother William and he founded Cagney Productions to release the movie despite United Artists. Free from Warner Bros. Again, Cagney spent some time relaxing on his farm at Martha's Vineyard before volunteering to join the USO. He spent several weeks touring the US, entertaining troops with routines and vaudeville scenes from Yankee Doodle Dandy . In September 1942, he was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild.
Almost a year after its creation, Cagney Productions produced its first film, Johnny Come Lately , in 1943. While major studios produced patriotic war films, Cagney was determined to continue eliminating the image of his men, so he produced a "the full and exhilarating exposition of Cagney's 'alter-ego' in the film". According to Cagney, the movie "makes money but it's not a great winner", and reviews vary from very good ( Time ) to poor (New York's PM ).
After the film finished, Cagney returned to USO and toured the US military base in England. He refused to give an interview to the British press, preferring to concentrate on practice and performances. He gave several performances a day to the American Army's Signal Corps of the American Cavalcade of Dance, which consists of American dance history, from the early days to Fred Astaire, and culminated with dance from Yankee Doodle Dandy .
The second Cagney film company produced is Blood on the Sun . Insisting on doing his own stunts, Cagney requires judo training from expert Ken Kuniyuki and Jack Halloran, a former policeman. Cagneys hopes the action movie will be more appealing to the audience, but worse at the box office than Johnny Come Lately . At this moment, Cagney hears about young war hero Audie Murphy, who appears on the cover of Life magazine. Cagney thinks Murphy has a look to become a movie star, and suggests that she come to Hollywood. Cagney felt, however, that Murphy could not act, and his contract was loaned out and then sold.
While negotiating the rights to his third independent film, Cagney starred in 20th Century Fox's 13 Rue Madeleine for $ 300,000 for two months of work. The wartime spy film was a success, and Cagney was anxious to begin production of her new project, an adaptation of William Saroyan's Broadway drama The Time of Your Life. Saroyan himself loved the movie, but it was a commercial disaster, costing half a million dollars to make it; the audience again struggled to accept Cagney in a non-person role.
Cagney Productions is in serious trouble; the bad results of the film being produced, and the legal dispute with Sam Goldwyn Studio over the lease agreement forced Cagney back to Warner Bros. He signed a production-distribution deal with the studio for the White Heat film, effectively creating a Cagney Productions unit from Warner Bros..
1949-55: Return to Warner Bros.
Cagney's portrayal of Cody Jarrett in the 1949 film White Heat was one of the most memorable. The cinema has changed in the 10 years since Walsh last directed Cagney (in The Strawberry Blonde ), and the portrayal of gangster actors has also changed. Unlike Tom Powers at The Public Enemy, Jarrett is portrayed as a madman who goes berserk with little if any sympathetic qualities. In an 18-year intervention, Cagney's hair starts graying, and he develops a belly for the first time. She is no longer a romantic commodity, and this is reflected in her appearance. Cagney himself has the idea of ​​playing Jarrett as a psychotic; He then stated, "Basically it was one of two-three-four types of cheapie, so I suggested we make him crazy so we agreed to include all the matches and headaches."
Cagney's last sentence in the film - "Made, Ma! Top of the world!" - Selected as the 18th largest movie line by the American Film Institute. Likewise, Jarrett's outburst in jail for being told about his mother's death is widely touted as one of Cagney's most memorable performances. Some of the additions in the set really became the actor's fear because of his violent depictions. Cagney attributes the show to the anger of his father, whom he sees as a child, as well as the one he saw while visiting a mental hospital.
The film was a critical success, although some critics wonder about the social impact of a character they consider sympathetic. Cagney is still battling his typecasting gangster. He told a reporter, "That's what people want, but one day I want to make another movie that the kids can see and see." However, Warner Bros, probably looking for another Yankee Doodle Dandy , commissioned Cagney music for the next image, the 1950s The West Point Story with Doris Day, an actress who she admire.
The next film, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye , is another gangster movie, which was the first film by Cagney Productions since the acquisition. While compared against the Critical Heat by critics, it was quite successful at the box office, with $ 500,000 going directly to Cagney Productions bankers to pay their losses. Cagney Productions was not a huge success, however, and in 1953, after William Cagney produced his final movie, AI Is A Streets, the company ended.
The next important role of Cagney is the 1955 film Love i or Leave Me, the third with Day. Cagney plays Martin "Moe the Gimp" Snyder, a paralyzed Jewish-American gangster from Chicago, part of which Spencer Tracy rejected. Cagney describes the script as "a very rare thing, a perfect script". When the film was released, Snyder reportedly asked how Cagney had accurately copied the lead, but Cagney himself insisted that he did not, after basing it on someone else's personal observations as they hobbled: "What I do is very simple. I came down when I turned it over while walking.
His performance earned him another Best Actor Academy Award nomination, 17 years after the first. The reviews are strong, and the film is considered one of the best of his career in the future. On the Day, he finds a fellow star who he can build relationships, as he had done with Blondell early in his career. The day itself is full of praise for Cagney, stating that he is "the most professional actor I've ever met." He's always 'real' I just forget we're making a picture His eyes will really fill up while we're working in a gentle scene. And you never need drops to make your eyes shine when Jimmy is on set. "
The next Cagney film is Mister Roberts , directed by John Ford and scheduled to star in Spencer Tracy. Tracy's involvement ensured that Cagney accepted a supporting role, though in the end, Tracy did not take part. Cagney has worked with Ford before at What Price Glory? , and they're good enough. However, once Ford met Cagney at the airport, the director warned him that they would "lick the donkey", which surprised Cagney. He then said, "I'll kick his brain, he's so cruel to everyone, he's a bad old man." The next day, Cagney was a little late on set, angering Ford. Cagney cut short his tirade, saying "When I started this drawing, you said we'd lick the mule before it was done. I'm ready now - right?" Ford walked away, and they had no problems, although Cagney never liked Ford.
Cagney's skills in paying attention to small details in other actors' performances became evident during the filming of Mister Roberts. While watching the Kraft Music Hall anthology television show a few months earlier, Cagney had noticed Jack Lemmon doing a right-handed. The first thing Cagney asks Lemmon when they meet is whether he still uses his left hand. Lemmon was surprised; he did it with a crybaby, and thought no one else was paying attention. He said of his co-star, "the power of his observations must be truly remarkable, in spite of the fact that he remembers it.
The film was a success, securing three Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Sound Recording, and Best Supporting Actor for Lemmon, who won. While Cagney is not nominated, he really enjoys his production. Filming on Midway Island and in smaller roles means he has time to relax and engage in his hobby of painting. He also drew caricatures of the cast and crew.
1955-61: Next career
In 1955, Cagney succeeded Spencer Tracy in the Western movie Tribute to a Bad Man for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He received praise for his performance, and the studio liked his job enough to offer him these more Blessed Years with Barbara Stanwyck. The two stars live well; they both previously worked in vaudeville, and they entertained the cast and crew on the outside of the screen by singing and dancing.
In 1956, Cagney performed one of his rare television roles, starring Robert Montgomery's Soldiers From the War Returning. This is a relief for Montgomery, who needs a strong autumn opener to stop the network from dropping the series. Cagney's appearance ensured that it was a success. The actor explained to reporters afterwards that television was not his medium: "I just work in a movie.This is a high-voltage business I have an amazing admiration for people who experience this kind of thing every week, but it's not for me. "
The following year, Cagney appeared in the Man of a Thousand Faces , where he played Lon Chaney. He received excellent reviews, with the American New York Journal rating as one of his best performances, and the movie, made for Universal, was a box office hit. Cagney's skills in mimicry, combined with physical similarity with Chaney, helped him generate empathy for his character.
Then in 1957, Cagney ventured behind the camera for the first and only time to direct Short Cut to Hell, a remake of the 1941 Alan Ladd film Gun for Hire , which in turn is based on Graham Greene's novel A Gun for Sale . Cagney had long been told by his friends that he would be a great director, so when he was approached by his friend, producer A. C. Lyles, he instinctively said yes. He declined all payment offers, saying he was an actor, not a director. The film was low on budget, and it shot fast. As Cagney remembered, "We shot him in twenty days, and that was long enough for me.I found a steer hole, I have no desire to tell others about their business".
In 1959, Cagney played the labor leader in what proved to be his last musical, Never Steal Anything Small, featuring a humorous song and a dance duo with Cara Williams, who plays his girlfriend.
For the next movie Cagney, he went to Ireland for Shake Hands with the Devil , directed by Michael Anderson. Cagney hopes to take the time to trace the descendants of the Irish ancestry, but time constraints and bad weather mean he is incapable of doing so. The inevitable message of violence that led to more violence attracted Cagney to the role of the Irish Republican Army commander, and produced what some critics would regard as the best performance of his final years.
Cagney's career began to subside, and he only made one film in 1960, which was critically acclaimed The Gallant Hours, where he played Admiral William F. "Bull" Halsey. The film, though set during the Guadalcanal Campaign at the Pacific Theater during World War II, was not a war movie, but focused on the impact of command. Cagney Productions, who shared production credits with company Robert Montgomery, returned briefly, though only his name. The film was a success, and The New York Times Bosley Crowther chose his star for praise: â € Å"This is Mr. Cagney, who was controlled to the last detail, gave life and a strong heroic posture. to the main character in the film. There is no braggadocio in it, no pressure for thick or sharp effects. This is one of the quietest, most reflective, most refined jobs Mr. Cagney. "
The second film from behind Cagney is a comedy. He was singled out by Billy Wilder to play a Coca-Cola hard-drive executive in the movie One, Two, Three. Cagney has concerns with the script, recalling the 23-year-old to the Boy Meets Girl, where the scenes were reset to try to make them more funny by pacing back and forth, with the opposite effect. Cagney received assurances from Wilder that the script was balanced. The filming did not go well, though, with one scene requiring 50 shots, something unfamiliar with Cagney. In fact, it was one of the worst experiences of his long career. For the first time, Cagney is considering getting out of the movie. He felt he had worked too long in the studio, and combined with a visit to the Dachau concentration camp during filming, he decided that he had enough, and retired afterward. One of the few positive aspects was her friendship with Pamela Tiffin, to whom she gave acting guidance, including the secrets she had learned during her career: "You walk in, cultivate yourself right on both feet, look at others in the eye, and say who in fact. "
1961-86: The later years and retirement
Cagney retired for 20 years, picturing Jack L. Warner's picture every time he was tempted to return, which immediately took the idea off. After he declined an offer to play Alfred Doolittle at My Fair Lady, he found it easier to deny others, including the inside of The Godfather Part II. He made several public appearances, preferring to spend the winter in Los Angeles, and summer either at the Martha Vineyard or at Verney Farms in New York. When in New York, Billie Vernon and he held many parties at the Silver Horn restaurant, where they got to know Marge Zimmermann, the owner.
Cagney was diagnosed with glaucoma and started taking eye drops, but continued to have vision problems. On Zimmermann's recommendation, he visited a different doctor, who determined that glaucoma had been misdiagnosed, and that Cagney was actually a diabetic. Zimmermann then took over himself to take care of Cagney, preparing his food to reduce his blood triglycerides, which had reached an alarming rate. Such was his success that, by the time Cagney made a rare public appearance at his lifetime American Life Institute Institute awards ceremony in 1974, he had lost  £ 20 (9.1 kg) and his vision had improved. Charlton Heston opened the ceremony, and Frank Sinatra introduced Cagney. So many Hollywood stars are present - said to be more than just an event in history - that a columnist wrote at the time that a bomb in the dining room would end the movie industry. In his acceptance speech, Cagney lightly denounced the impressionist Frank Gorshin, saying, "Oh, Frankie, just casually, I never say 'MMMMmmmm, you dirty rats!' What I actually said was 'Judy, Judy, Judy!' "- a joking reference about the same misjudgment that was associated with Cary Grant.
While at Coldwater Canyon in 1977, Cagney suffered a mild stroke. After two weeks in the hospital, Zimmermann became a full-time caretaker, traveling with Billie Vernon and wherever they went. After the stroke, Cagney can no longer do much of his favorite entertainment, including horseback riding and dancing, and when he becomes more depressed, he even stops painting. Encouraged by his wife and Zimmermann, Cagney accepted an offer from director Milo? Forman starred in a small but very important role in the movie Ragtime (1981).
The film was filmed primarily at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England, and upon his arrival in Southampton on board Queen Elizabeth 2, Cagney was surrounded by hundreds of fans. Officials of Cunard Line, in charge of security at the wharf, said they had never seen anything like it, even though they had experienced previous visits by Marlon Brando and Robert Redford.
Despite the fact that Ragtime was his first film in 20 years, Cagney immediately felt comfortable: The discontinuous lines and miscues were performed by his co-star, often by mere admiration. Howard Rollins, who received the Oscar Best Supporting Actor nomination for his performance, said, "I was scared to meet Cagney, I asked him how to die in front of the camera, saying 'Dead!' It works: Who knows more about death than he does? "Cagney also repeated the advice he gave to Pamela Tiffin, Joan Leslie, and Lemmon. As the filming continues, cagney's sciatica gets worse, but he finishes filming nine weeks, and is reportedly staying on set after completing his scenes to help other actors with their dialogue.
Cagney's star Pat O'Brien appeared with him on the British Parkinson's talk show in the early 1980s and they both made a surprise appearance on the Queen Mother's commemorative show at the London Palladium in 1980. Her appearance at the stage encouraged the Queen Mother to stand up, the only time she did it during the entire show, and she then decided the protocol to go backstage to talk to Cagney directly.
Cagney made a rare TV appearance in the main role of Terrible Joe Moran movie in 1984. This was her last role. Cagney's health is very fragile and more strokes make him confined in a wheelchair, but the producers cultivate real-life mobility problems into the story. They also decided to dub her disruptive lecture, using Rich Little impersonators. The film uses a fight clip from Cagney's boxing film Winner Take All (1932), despite the fact that TV movies have very different characters.
Personal life
In 1920, Cagney was a choir member for the Pitter Patter show, where she met Frances Willard "Billie" Vernon. They married on September 28, 1922, and the marriage lasted until his death in 1986. Frances Cagney died in 1994. In 1941, they adopted a son they named James Francis Cagney III, and then a daughter, Cathleen " Casey "Cagney. Cagney is a very personal man, and while he is willing to give a press opportunity to photographs, he usually spends his time outside the public eye.
Cagney's son married Jill Lisbeth Inness in 1962. The couple had two children, James IV and Cindy. James Cagney III died of a heart attack on January 27, 1984 in Washington, DC, two years before his father's death. He has been estranged from his father and has never seen or spoken to him since 1982.
Cagney's daughter Cathleen married Jack W. Thomas in 1962. He was also estranged from his father during the last years of his life. He died on August 11, 2004.
As a youth, Cagney became interested in agriculture - sparked by the soil conservation lecture he attended - to the extent that when his first trip from Warner Bros., he helped find 100 acres (0.40 km 2 2 ) farmed at Martha's Vineyard. Cagney loves that there are no concrete roads that surround the property, just a trail of land. The house was a bit run-down and dilapidated, and Billie was initially reluctant to move on, but soon liked the place as well. After being flooded by movie fans, Cagney sent a rumor that he had hired an armed man for security. The hoax proved so successful that when Spencer Tracy came to visit, the taxi driver refused to go home, saying, "I heard they shot!" Tracy had to travel the rest of the way on foot.
In 1955, after recording three films, Cagney bought an area of ​​120 acres ($ 0.49 km 2 ) at Stanfordville, Dutchess County, New York, for $ 100,000. Cagney named him Verney Farm, taking the first syllable of the name of Billie's girl and the second from her own family name. He turns it into a working farm, sells some dairy cows and replaces them with beef cattle. He expanded it over the years to 750 acres (3.0Ã, km 2 ). Such as Cagney's enthusiasm for agriculture and agriculture that his perseverance and effort are rewarded by the honorary title of Florida's Rollins College. Instead of just "changing with Ava Gardner on my arm" to receive her honorary degree, Cagney turned the tables on college faculty by writing and submitting papers on soil conservation.
Cagney, born in 1899 (before the widespread use of cars), loves horses since childhood. As a child, he often sits on local delivery horses, and drives a horse-drawn tram with his mother. As an adult, after the horse has been replaced by the car as the main mode of transportation, Cagney maintains a horse in his field, which specializes in Morgans, the kind he loves.
Cagney is a tough sailor and boats buried on both US beaches, the joy of sailing, however, not protecting him from occasional seasickness - becomes sick, sometimes, on a quiet day while facing tougher and heavier weather at other times. Cagney enjoys painting immensely, and states in his autobiography that he may be happier, if somewhat poorer, as a painter than a movie star. The famous painter, Sergei Bongart, teaches Cagney in the next life and has two works by Cagney. Cagney often handed over his work, but refused to sell his paintings, considered himself an amateur. He signed and sold only one painting, bought by Johnny Carson for charity charity.
Political view
In his autobiography, Cagney says that as a young man, he has no political views, because he is more concerned with where the next food comes from. However, the labor movement that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s soon forced him to take sides. The first version of the National Labor Relations Act was passed in 1935 and increased tension between labor and management encouraged the movement. Fanzines in the 1930s, however, described his politics as "radical".
This somewhat exaggerated view was reinforced by his public contractual dispute with Warner Bros at the time, he joined the Screen Actors Guild in 1933, and his involvement in the revolt against the so-called "Merriam tax". "Merriam tax" is a fraudulent method of channeling studio funds to politicians; during the California governor's campaign in 1934, studio executives would "weigh on" their actors, automatically taking a day's pay from their biggest producers, eventually sending nearly half a million dollars to Governor Frank Merriam's campaign. Cagney (and Jean Harlow) openly refuses to pay and Cagney even threatens that, if the studio takes a one-day fee for Merriam's campaign, he will pay a week to Upton Sinclair, Merriam's opponent in the race.
He supported political activists and defense fund leader Thomas Moroney, but was rejected by the behavior of some Mooney supporters at a rally. Around the same time, he gave money to an ambulance of the Spanish Republican Army during the Spanish Civil War, which he put into a "soft touch". This donation enhances its liberal reputation. He was also involved in a "liberal group... with a leftist view," along with Ronald Reagan. However, when Reagan and he saw the direction of the group heading, they resigned the same night.
Cagney was accused of being a communist sympathizer in 1934, and again in 1940. The allegations in 1934 stem from a police letter found from a local Communist official who alleged that Cagney would bring other Hollywood stars to the meeting. Cagney denied it, and Lincoln Steffens, the writer's husband, supported the denial, insisting that the allegations stemmed only from Cagney's contribution to the striking cotton workers in the San Joaquin Valley. William Cagney claims that this donation was the root of the charge in 1940. Cagney was released by US Representative Martin Dies Jr., at the House Committee on American Homes.
Cagney became president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1942 for a two-year term. He took a role in the Fellowship fight against the Mafia, which began to take an active interest in the film industry. His wife, Billie Vernon, once received a call informing him that Cagney had died. Cagney alleged that, after failing to scare the Guild and him, they sent a hit man to kill him by dropping a heavy light onto his head. After hearing rumors about a blow, George Raft called, and the blow should have been canceled.
During World War II, Cagney collected money for war bonds by taking part in a racing exhibition at Roosevelt Raceway and selling seats for the premiere of Yankee Doodle Dandy . He also let the Army practice maneuvers in his Martha Vineyard garden.
After the war, Cagney's politics began to change. He has worked on the presidential campaign of Franklin D. Roosevelt, including the 1940 presidential election against Wendell Willkie. However, at the time of the 1948 election, he became disillusioned with Harry S. Truman, and chose Thomas E. Dewey, his first non-Democratic voice.
In 1980, Cagney contributed financially to the Republican Party, supporting his friend Ronald Reagan's offer to become president in the 1980 elections. As he got older, he became increasingly conservative, referring to himself in his autobiography as "conservative-arched". He considers his step away from liberal politics as "a completely natural reaction as I begin to see the undisciplined elements in our country that drive the destruction of our system... Dysfunctional creatures, hippies... do not emerge from emptiness. "
Death
Cagney died on his Dutchess County farm in Stanfordville, New York, on Easter Sunday 1986, due to a heart attack. He is 86 years old. He died four days after the birthday of his brother William's 81st birthday. The funeral mass is held at St. Catholic Church. Francis de Sales Roma in Manhattan. The welcome at the funeral was given by his close friend, who was also the President of the United States at the time, Ronald Reagan. The bearers include Floyd Patterson boxers, dancers Mikhail Baryshnikov (who hopes to play Cagney on Broadway), actor Ralph Bellamy, and director Milo? For men. Governor Mario M. Cuomo and Mayor Edward I. Koch were also present at the service.
Cagney is buried in a tomb at the Tombs' Park at the Heaven Gate Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.
Awards and inheritance
James Cagney won an Academy Award in 1943 for his performance as George M. Cohan at Yankee Doodle Dandy .
For his contribution to the film industry, Cagney was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 with a motion picture star located at 6504 Hollywood Boulevard.
In 1974, Cagney received the American Life Institute Film Awards. Charlton Heston, in announcing that Cagney should be respected, called him "... one of the most important figures of the generation when the dominant American film, Cagney, that most American actors,
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments