James Cagney
Year Film Role
1930 Sinners ' Holiday Harry Delano
1930 The Doorway to Hell Steve Mileaway
1931 Blonde Crazy Bert Harris
1931 Smart Money Jack
1931 The Millionaire Schofield , Insurance Salesman
1931 The Public Enemy Tom Powers
1931 Other Men 's Women Ed Eddie Bailey
1932 Winner Take All Jim Jimmy Kane
1932 The Crowd Roars Joe Greer
1932 Taxi ! Matt Nolan
1933 Lady Killer Dan Quigley
1933 Footlight Parade Chester Kent
1933 The Mayor of Hell Richard Patsy Gargan
1933 Picture Snatcher Danny Kean
1933 Hard to Handle Myron C. Lefty Merrill
1934 The St. Louis Kid Eddie Kennedy
1934 Here Comes the Navy Chester Chesty J. O'Conner
1934 He Was Her Man Flicker Hayes , a.k.a . Jerry Allen
1934 Jimmy the Gent Jimmy Corrigan
1935 A Midsummer Night 's Dream Nick Bottom
Filmography
James Francis Cagney Jr. (July 17, 1899 - March 30, 1986) was an American actor and dancer, both on stage and in film. 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. He is remembered by some for playing multifaceted tough guys in films such as The Public Enemy (1931), Taxi! (1932), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), The Roaring Twenties (1939) and White Heat (1949), finding himself typecast or limited by this reputation earlier in his career. He was able to negotiate dancing opportunities in his films and ended up winning the Academy Award for his role in a musical (Yankee Doodle Dandy). In 1999 the American Film Institute ranked him eighth among its list of greatest male stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Orson Welles described Cagney as maybe the greatest actor who ever appeared in front of a camera. Cagneys first appearance on stage was as a stand in for his brother in a community theater production. Cagney had terrible stage fright and always had to keep a bucket with him. 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. He secured several other roles, receiving good notices, before landing the lead in the 1929 play Penny Arcade.