James Cagney

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James Francis Cagney, Jr. (July 17, 1899 – March 30, 1986) was an American film actor most remembered for playing gangsters in crime films and who won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1942 for his role in Yankee Doodle Dandy. Like James Stewart, Cagney became so familiar to audiences that they usually referred to him as "Jimmy" Cagney — a billing never found on any of his films. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Cagney eighth among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time. Cagney was born in New York City to James Cagney Sr., an Irish American bartender and amateur boxer, and Carolyn Nelson; his maternal grandfather was a Norwegian ship captain[1] while his maternal grandmother was an Irish American.[2] The red-haired, blue-eyed Cagney graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York City in 1918 and attended Columbia University. On September 28, 1922, he married dancer Frances Willard (aka: “Billie”) Vernon (1899 – 1994) with whom he remained for the rest of his life.[citation needed] They adopted a son, James Cagney Jr, and a daughter, Cathleen “Basey” Cagney. Both his brother William, who was also a producer, and sister Jeanne were actors. Cagney began his acting career in vaudeville and on Broadway. When Warner Brothers bought the film rights to the play Penny Arcade, they took Cagney and co-star Joan Blondell from the stage to the screen in the retitled Sinner's Holiday (1930), starring Grant Withers. Cagney went on to star in numerous films, making his name as a

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