James Cagney
American actor and dancer (1899–1986)
- Born
- 17 July 1899, Manhattan
- Died
- 30 March 1986
- Citizenship
- United States
- Occupation
- film actor, character actor, stage actor, television actor, trade unionist
- Films here
- 3
James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899 – March 30, 1986) was an American actor and dancer. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances.
Cagney is remembered for 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), finding himself typecast in the early years of his career. He was able to negotiate dancing opportunities in his films and ended up winning the Academy Award for his role of George M. Cohan in the musical Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth on its list of greatest male stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Orson Welles described him as "maybe the greatest actor who ever appeared in front of a camera".
Filmography (martial arts films)
| Year | Film | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| 1932 | Winner Take All | Cast |
| 1935 | The Irish in Us | Cast |
| 1940 | City for Conquest | Cast |
Frequent collaborators
External links
Facts from Wikidata Q94041 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.