James Cagney

Trivia of James Cagney (17 July 1899 – 30 March 1986)

*When he was young, he had many hobbies.He started tap dancing (a skill that eventually contributed to his Academy Award) and was nicknamed "Cellar-Door Cagney" after his habit of dancing on slanted cellar doors. He engaged in amateur boxing, and was a runner-up for the New York State lightweight title. His coaches encouraged him to turn professional, but his mother would not allow it. He also played semiprofessional baseball for a local team, and entertained dreams of playing in the Major Leagues.

*In his first professional acting performance in 1919, Cagney was costumed as a woman when he danced in the chorus line of the revue Every Sailor. He spent several years in vaudeville as a dancer and comedian, until he got his first major acting part in 1925.

*On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing.Playing multifaceted tough guys in films such as The Public Enemy (1931), Taxi! (1932), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), The Roaring Twenties (1939), City for Conquest (1940) and White Heat (1949).Orson Welles described him as "maybe the greatest actor who ever appeared in front of a camera".

*Often left the set early claiming he was too ill to continue filming in order to ensure an extra day of filming so that the extras and the film crew, whom he thought woefully underpaid, could get an additional day's salary.

*In 1932’s Taxi!, Cagney played an angry cab driver. There was one pretty serious problem, however: Cagney had never learned how to drive. So, before he could star in this movie, he had to take driving lessons.Taxi! was also famous for one of Cagney’s most misquoted lines. Many impressionists quoted him saying, "MMMmmm, you dirty rat!" However, he actually said, "Come out and take it, you dirty, yellow-bellied rat..."

*He became the first actor to win the Best Actor Academy Award for a musical performance as Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1943).Though he broke a rib while filming a dance scene, but continued dancing until it was completed.

*In an interview towards the end of his life, Cagney was asked by the interviewer who should play him if a movie was ever made about his life. Cagney replied that there was a 'young kid' called Mike Fox (referring to actor Michael J. Fox), who's really terrific and added that he thought Fox was even a spitting image of him as a young man. Although a movie of Cagney's life was never made.