Allow Me to Introduce, James Francis Cagney

Born July 17, 1899, in New York City
Died March 30, 1986

He was the second recipient of the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, and the first actor to receive it. I remember watching the event on TV. It was 1974, and he hadn't made a movie since 1961. As he walked down the steps, he did the same little tap and shuffle he did on the White House steps in "Yankee Doodle Dandy" over 30 years before. I was 17 years old, and I absolutely adored Jimmy Cagney, but I didn't know why, exactly.

Looking back, and watching one of his movies today ("The Mayor of Hell"), I think it was because he always played characters who had no fear. He was 5'6" tall, but bigger than life. I saw an interview with Joan Leslie, his costar in "Yankee Doodle Dandy", and she stated that Jimmy asked that any characters he had to fight with in his films be played by actors who were taller than he was. It doesn't seem like that would be hard to do, since he was so short, but, when you watch him knocking people down in film after film, it's believable. There's an actor currently in the business who reminds me of Cagney -- Jackie Earle Haley, who actually measures an inch shorter than Jimmy. Jackie also believably portrays guys you wouldn't want to cross.

Cagney appeared in his first film in 1930, but it was a starring role in "The Public Enemy" in 1931 that shot him to stardom. In this film, he is cruel to men and women alike. His character, Tom Powers, is the scum of the earth, but you might find yourself rooting for him to win. After "The Public Enemy", he was consistently cast as a gangster, maybe because he played the part so well.

I haven't seen every James Cagney film, but I have enjoyed every one I have seen. If I've peaked your interest in James Cagney, here's a list of films to get you started. (Unless otherwise noted, he plays a gangster or hoodlum of some sort):

"The Public Enemy" (1931)
"The Mayor of Hell" (1933)
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1935) (yes, the Shakespeare play--no gangsters)
"The Roaring Twenties" (1939)
"The Bride Came C.O.D." (1941) (romantic comedy, with Bette Davis)
"Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942) (introduced to me by my Daddy; a musical biography of George M Cohan)
"White Heat" (1949)
"The West Point Story" (1950) (musical)
"Love Me or Leave Me" (1955) (a musical where he plays a gangster in love with a singer, played by Doris Day)
"Mister Roberts" (1955) (a comedy)
"Man of a Thousand Faces" (1957) (biography of Lon Chaney)
"One, Two, Three" (1961) (comedy)
"Ragtime" (1981) (drama where he plays a police chief)

So, pick up whatever movie you can find and join me in celebrating the acting genius of Jimmy Cagney -- a short guy I shouldn't like, but who had my heart from the moment I first saw him.