Actor James Garner Died

<a href="http://www.fortodays.com/2014/07/actor-james-garner-died.html">Actor James Garner</a>, best known for the role of prime-time television as a frontier gambler hilarious on "Maverick" and as an ex-convict turned private detective on "The Rockford Files," has died at the age of 86, celebrity news website TMZ reported on Sunday.<br /> <br /> Garner to build a career of six decades played a character who is rough but attractive, good-hearted, anti-hero. He had received the highest award from the Screen Actors Guild in 2004.<br /> <br /> He was found dead on Saturday night by ambulance officers were sent to his home in Los Angeles.ral<br /> <br /> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> <b>James Garner</b> (born <b>James Scott Bumgarner</b>; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American film and television actor. He starred in several <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">television series</span></span> over more than five decades, which included such popular roles as <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Bret Maverick</span></span> in the 1950s <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">western</span></span>-<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">comedy</span></span> series <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Maverick</span></span></i> and <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jim Rockford</span></span> in the 1970s <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">detective</span></span> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">drama</span></span> <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Rockford Files</span></span></i>.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> Garner starred in more than 50 films including <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Great Escape</span></span></i> (1963), <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Paddy Chayefsky's</span></span> <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Americanization of Emily</span></span></i> (1964),<i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Grand Prix</span></span></i> (1966), <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Blake Edwards'</span></span> <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Victor Victoria</span></span></i> (1982), <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Murphy's Romance</span></span></i> (1985) for which he received an <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Academy Award</span></span>nomination, and <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Notebook</span></span></i> (2004).</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> Garner, the youngest of three children, was born in <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Norman, Oklahoma</span></span>, the son of Mildred Scott (née Meek) and Weldon Warren Bumgarner, a carpet layer.His two older brothers were actor <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jack Garner</span></span> (1926–2011) and Charles Bumgarner, a school administrator who died in 1984. His family was Methodist. His mother, who was of part <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Cherokee</span></span> descent, died when he was five years old. After their mother's death, Garner and his brothers were sent to live with relatives. Garner was reunited with his family in 1934, when Weldon remarried.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> Garner grew to hate his stepmother, Wilma, who beat all three boys, especially young James. When he was fourteen, Garner finally had enough of his "wicked stepmother" and after a particularly heated battle, she left for good. James' brother Jack commented, "She was a damn no-good woman" Garner stated that his stepmother punished him by forcing him to wear a dress in public and that he finally engaged in a physical fight with her, knocking her down and choking her to keep her from killing him in retaliation. This incident ended the marriage.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> Shortly after the breakup of the marriage, Weldon Bumgarner moved to <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Los Angeles</span></span>, while Garner and his brothers remained in Norman. After working at several jobs he disliked, at sixteen years of age, Garner joined the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">United States Merchant Marine</span></span> near the end of <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">World War II</span></span>. He fared well in the work and with shipmates, but suffered from chronic<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">seasickness</span></span>. At seventeen, he joined his father in Los Angeles and enrolled at <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Hollywood High School</span></span>, where he was voted the most popular student. A high school gym teacher recommended him for a job <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">modeling</span></span> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jantzen</span></span> bathing suits. It paid well, <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">$</span></span>25 an hour, but in his first interview for the Archives of American Television, he said he hated modeling and soon quit and returned to Norman. There, he played football and basketball, as well as competing on the track and golf teams, for <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Norman High School</span></span>.He never graduated from high school, explaining in a 1976 <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Good Housekeeping</span></span></i> magazine interview: "I was a terrible student and I never actually graduated from high school, but I got my diploma in the Army.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> Later, he joined the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">National Guard</span></span> serving seven months in the United States. He then went to Korea for 14 months in the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Regular Army</span></span>, serving in the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">5th Regimental Combat Team</span></span> in the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Korean War</span></span>. He was wounded twice, first in the face and hand from <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">shrapnel</span></span> fire from a <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">mortar</span></span> round, and second on April 23, 1951 in the buttocks from <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">friendly fire</span></span>from U.S. fighter jets as he dove headfirst into a foxhole. Garner was awarded the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Purple Heart</span></span> in Korea for the first injury. For the second wound, he received a second Purple Heart (eligibility requirement: "As the result of friendly fire while actively engaging the enemy"), although Garner received the medal in 1983, 32 years after his injury.Garner was a self-described "scrounger" for his company in Korea, a role he later played in <i>The Great Escape</i><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; white-space: nowrap;">[</span></span>16]</sup> and <i>The Americanization of Emily</i>.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> In 1954 a friend, Paul Gregory, whom Garner had met while attending Hollywood High School, persuaded Garner to take a non-speaking role in the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Broadway</span></span> production of <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Caine Mutiny Court Martial</span></span></i>,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; white-space: nowrap;">[</span></span>17]</sup> where he was able to study actor <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Henry Fonda</span></span> night after night. Garner subsequently moved to <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">television commercials</span></span> and eventually to television roles. His first movie appearances were in <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Girl He Left Behind</span></span></i> and <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Toward the Unknown</span></span></i> in 1956.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> <span style="color: #252525;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">He changed his last name from Bumgarner to Garner after the studio had credited him as "James Garner" without permission. He then legally changed it upon the birth of his first child, when he decided she had too many names.</span></span><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 11.666666030883789px; white-space: nowrap;"> </span></span><span style="color: #252525;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">His brother Jack also had an acting career and changed his surname to Garner, too. His non-actor brother, Charlie, kept the Bumgarner surname.</span></span></div> <h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: 'Linux Libertine', Georgia, Times, serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;"> <span class="mw-headline" id="Acting_career">Acting career</span></h2> <h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: none; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em;"> <span class="mw-headline" id="Maverick"><i>Maverick</i></span></h3> <div class="thumb tright" style="background-color: white; clear: right; color: #252525; float: right; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto;"> <div class="thumbinner" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-size: 13px; min-width: 100px; overflow: hidden; padding: 3px !important; text-align: center; width: 152px;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><img alt="" class="thumbimage" data-file-height="858" data-file-width="727" height="177" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/James_Garner_Louise_Fletcher_Maverick_1959.JPG/150px-James_Garner_Louise_Fletcher_Maverick_1959.JPG" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/James_Garner_Louise_Fletcher_Maverick_1959.JPG/225px-James_Garner_Louise_Fletcher_Maverick_1959.JPG 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/James_Garner_Louise_Fletcher_Maverick_1959.JPG/300px-James_Garner_Louise_Fletcher_Maverick_1959.JPG 2x" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); vertical-align: middle;" width="150" /></span></span><br /> <div class="thumbcaption" style="border: none; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px !important; text-align: left;"> <div class="magnify" style="background: none !important; border: none !important; float: right; margin-left: 3px;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial !important; background-clip: initial !important; background-origin: initial !important; background-position: initial !important; background-repeat: initial !important; background-size: initial !important;"><img alt="" height="11" src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/static-1.24wmf13/skins/common/images/magnify-clip.png" style="background: none !important; border: none !important; display: block; vertical-align: middle;" width="15" /></span></span></div> With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Louise Fletcher</span></span> in 1958</div> </div> </div> <div class="thumb tright" style="background-color: white; clear: right; color: #252525; float: right; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto;"> <div class="thumbinner" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-size: 13px; min-width: 100px; overflow: hidden; padding: 3px !important; text-align: center; width: 152px;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><img alt="" class="thumbimage" data-file-height="897" data-file-width="748" height="180" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/James_Garner_Bret_Maverick_Jack_Kelly_Bart_Maverick.JPG/150px-James_Garner_Bret_Maverick_Jack_Kelly_Bart_Maverick.JPG" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/James_Garner_Bret_Maverick_Jack_Kelly_Bart_Maverick.JPG/225px-James_Garner_Bret_Maverick_Jack_Kelly_Bart_Maverick.JPG 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/James_Garner_Bret_Maverick_Jack_Kelly_Bart_Maverick.JPG/300px-James_Garner_Bret_Maverick_Jack_Kelly_Bart_Maverick.JPG 2x" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); vertical-align: middle;" width="150" /></span></span><br /> <div class="thumbcaption" style="border: none; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px !important; text-align: left;"> <div class="magnify" style="background: none !important; border: none !important; float: right; margin-left: 3px;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial !important; background-clip: initial !important; background-origin: initial !important; background-position: initial !important; background-repeat: initial !important; background-size: initial !important;"><img alt="" height="11" src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/static-1.24wmf13/skins/common/images/magnify-clip.png" style="background: none !important; border: none !important; display: block; vertical-align: middle;" width="15" /></span></span></div> Garner as <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Bret</span></span> and<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jack Kelly</span></span> as <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Bart Maverick</span></span></div> </div> </div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> Garner was closely advised by financial adviser <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Irving Leonard</span></span>, who also advised <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Clint Eastwood</span></span> in the late 1950s and 1960s. After several feature film roles, including <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Sayonara</span></span></i> with <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Marlon Brando</span></span>, Garner got his big break playing the role of professional gambler <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Bret Maverick</span></span> in the comedy Western series <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Maverick</span></span></i> from 1957 to 1960. Garner was earlier considered for the lead role in another Warner Brothers Western series,<i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Cheyenne</span></span></i>, but that role went to <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Clint Walker</span></span> because the casting director couldn't reach Garner in time (according to Garner's autobiography), and Garner wound up playing an Army officer in the pilot instead.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> Only Garner and series creator <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Roy Huggins</span></span> thought <i>Maverick</i> could compete with <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Ed Sullivan Show</span></span></i> and <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Steve Allen Show</span></span></i>. The show almost immediately made Garner a household name. Various actors had recurring roles as Maverick foils, including <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Efrem Zimbalist, Jr</span></span> as "Dandy Jim Buckley," <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Richard Long</span></span> as "Gentleman Jack Darby," <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Leo Gordon</span></span> as "Big Mike McComb," and <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Diane Brewster</span></span> as "Samantha Crawford" (Huggins' mother's maiden name) while the series veered effortlessly from comedy to adventure and back again. The relationship with Huggins, the creator and original producer of <i>Maverick</i>, would later pay dividends for Garner.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> Garner was the lone star of <i>Maverick</i> for the first seven episodes but production demands forced the studio, <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Warner Brothers</span></span>, to create a Maverick brother, <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Bart</span></span>, played by <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jack Kelly</span></span>. This allowed two production units to film different story lines and episodes simultaneously. The series also featured popular cross-over <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">episodes</span></span> featuring both Maverick brothers, including the famous "<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Shady Deal at Sunny Acres</span></span>", upon which the first half of the 1973 movie <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Sting</span></span></i> appears to be based, according to <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Roy Huggins</span></span>' <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Archive of American Television</span></span> interview. Garner and <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Clint Eastwood</span></span> staged an epic fistfight in an episode entitled "<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Duel at Sundown</span></span>", in which Eastwood plays a vicious gunslinger. Critics were positive about Garner and Jack Kelly's chemistry, but Garner quit the series in the third season because of a dispute with Warner Brothers.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> The studio attempted to replace Garner's character with a Maverick cousin who had lived in Britain long enough to pick up an English accent, played by <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Roger Moore</span></span>, but Moore quit the series after filming only <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">14 episodes</span></span> as <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Beau Maverick</span></span>. Warner Brothers also dressed <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Robert Colbert</span></span>, a Garner look-alike, in Bret Maverick's outfit and called the character Brent, but <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Brent Maverick</span></span> did not have a chance to catch on with viewers since Colbert made only two episodes toward the end of the season, leaving the rest of the series run to Kelly (alternating with reruns of <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">episodes with Garner</span></span>).</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> When <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Charlton Heston</span></span> turned down the lead role in <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Darby's Rangers</span></span></i> before Garner's departure from <i>Maverick</i>, Garner was selected and performed well in the role. As a result of Garner's performance in <i>Darby's Rangers</i>, coupled with his <i>Maverick</i> popularity, <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Warner Brothers</span></span> subsequently gave him lead roles in other films, such as <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Up Periscope</span></span></i> and <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Cash McCall</span></span></i>.</div> <center style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"> <ul class="gallery mw-gallery-packed" style="line-height: 1.6; list-style-image: url(data:image/png; margin: 2px; padding: 2px; zoom: 1;"> <li class="gallerybox" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0.1em; vertical-align: top; width: 186.48977395048442px; zoom: 1;"><div style="width: 186.48977395048442px;"> <div class="thumb" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: none; margin: 2px; width: 185.48977395048442px;"> <div style="margin: 0px auto;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="/" data-file-height="963" data-file-width="767" height="231" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/James_Garner_Jack_Kelly_Maverick_1959.JPG/239px-James_Garner_Jack_Kelly_Maverick_1959.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="185" /></span></span></div> </div> <div class="gallerytext" style="font-size: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 4px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <div style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jack Kelly</span></span> in 1957</div> </div> </div> </li>   <li class="gallerybox" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0.1em; vertical-align: top; width: 184.01184068891283px; zoom: 1;"><div style="width: 184.01184068891283px;"> <div class="thumb" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: none; margin: 2px; width: 182.01184068891283px;"> <div style="margin: 0px auto;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="731" data-file-width="572" height="231" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/James_Garner_Maverick_1960.JPG/235px-James_Garner_Maverick_1960.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="182" /></span></span></div> </div> <div class="gallerytext" style="font-size: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 4px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <div style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Suzanne Storrs</span></span> in 1960</div> </div> </div> </li>   <li class="gallerybox" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0.1em; vertical-align: top; width: 167.94079655543598px; zoom: 1;"><div style="width: 167.94079655543598px;"> <div class="thumb" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: none; margin: 2px; width: 166.94079655543598px;"> <div style="margin: 0px auto;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="829" data-file-width="595" height="231" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Connie_Stevens_James_Garner_Maverick.JPG/215px-Connie_Stevens_James_Garner_Maverick.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="166" /></span></span></div> </div> <div class="gallerytext" style="font-size: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 4px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <div style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Connie Stevens</span></span> in 1959</div> </div> </div> </li>   <li class="gallerybox" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0.1em; vertical-align: top; width: 187.48977395048442px; zoom: 1;"><div style="width: 187.48977395048442px;"> <div class="thumb" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: none; margin: 2px; width: 185.48977395048442px;"> <div style="margin: 0px auto;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="897" data-file-width="719" height="231" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Diane_Brewster_James_Garner_Maverick_1957.JPG/240px-Diane_Brewster_James_Garner_Maverick_1957.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="185" /></span></span></div> </div> <div class="gallerytext" style="font-size: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 4px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <div style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Diane Brewster</span></span> in 1957</div> </div> </div> </li>   <li class="gallerybox" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0.1em; vertical-align: top; width: 178.2152852529602px; zoom: 1;"><div style="width: 178.2152852529602px;"> <div class="thumb" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: none; margin: 2px; width: 176.2152852529602px;"> <div style="margin: 0px auto;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="921" data-file-width="701" height="231" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/James_Garner_Diane_McBain_Maverick.JPG/228px-James_Garner_Diane_McBain_Maverick.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="176" /></span></span></div> </div> <div class="gallerytext" style="font-size: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 4px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <div style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Diane McBain</span></span> in 1959</div> </div> </div> </li>   <li class="gallerybox" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0.1em; vertical-align: top; width: 181.8525296017223px; zoom: 1;"><div style="width: 181.8525296017223px;"> <div class="thumb" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: none; margin: 2px; width: 180.8525296017223px;"> <div style="margin: 0px auto;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="910" data-file-width="708" height="231" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/James_Garner_Jean_Willes_Maverick_1960.JPG/233px-James_Garner_Jean_Willes_Maverick_1960.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="180" /></span></span></div> </div> <div class="gallerytext" style="font-size: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 4px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <div style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jean Willes</span></span> in 1960</div> </div> </div> </li>   <li class="gallerybox" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0.1em; vertical-align: top; width: 169px; zoom: 1;"><div style="width: 169px;"> <div class="thumb" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: none; margin: 2px; width: 167px;"> <div style="margin: 0px auto;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="908" data-file-width="758" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/James_Garner_Connie_Stevens_Maverick_1959.JPG/250px-James_Garner_Connie_Stevens_Maverick_1959.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="167" /></span></span></div> </div> <div class="gallerytext" style="font-size: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 4px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <div style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> With Connie Stevens in 1959</div> </div> </div> </li>   <li class="gallerybox" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0.1em; vertical-align: top; width: 163px; zoom: 1;"><div style="width: 163px;"> <div class="thumb" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: none; margin: 2px; width: 161px;"> <div style="margin: 0px auto;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="856" data-file-width="688" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/James_Garner_as_Pappy_Maverick_1959.JPG/241px-James_Garner_as_Pappy_Maverick_1959.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="161" /></span></span></div> </div> <div class="gallerytext" style="font-size: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 4px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <div style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Kaye Elhardt</span></span> in 1</div> </div> </div> </li> </ul> </center>

Edward James Olmos Henry James James Badge Dale James Bond James Cagney James Callis James Coburn James Franco James Gandolfini James Garner Liam James Actor James Garner Died

Actor James Garner , best known for the role of prime-time television as a frontier gambler hilarious on "Maverick" and as an ex-c...

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CAGNEY

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hBinierhsqYFARwAtvWEBbudTRXLwCZQQAPrCv6IIYnTqsnldUTCqqRLR-AyR8YL37UeXWwquTa0DXcxnmnP6mOYwDEYq36d5bIx4MjjHHYEO1CuxESvudINT8WO5pyjKC79cA4PZ7I/s1600/Cagney_by_Claroscureaux.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hBinierhsqYFARwAtvWEBbudTRXLwCZQQAPrCv6IIYnTqsnldUTCqqRLR-AyR8YL37UeXWwquTa0DXcxnmnP6mOYwDEYq36d5bIx4MjjHHYEO1CuxESvudINT8WO5pyjKC79cA4PZ7I/s400/Cagney_by_Claroscureaux.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Cagney, color by <a href="http://claroscureauxdeux.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Claroscureaux</span></a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"...every time I see him work, looks to me like a bunch of firecrackers going off all at once."</span><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Will Rogers </span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">During an era when impressionists, those perform<span style="font-size: small;">ers whose gift it is to mimic the very famous, were a staple on television, Cagney w<span style="font-size: small;">as an essential in every repertoire. Cagney. An electric and singular presence, he is among the handful of Hollywood legends i<span style="font-size: small;">nstantly identifiable by just <span style="font-size: small;">one name. His film career began in 1930 and came to an end in 1981, but he is as revered by film buffs today as he was treasured by audiences throughout his active years. <span style="font-size: small;">This tribute is my contribution to The Movie P<span style="font-size: small;">rojector's Cagney Blogathon. <a href="http://themovieprojector.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html"><span style="color: red;"><b>Click here</b></span></a> for links to participating blogs.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></i></span><br /><a name="more"></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">James Francis Cagney came into the world in July 1<span style="font-size: small;">899, the second of seven children, two of wh<span style="font-size: small;">om died in infancy, born to Irish-American James and Carrie Cagney on New York's Lower East Side. The elder James Cagney was a bookkeeper-turned-bartender, a charmer and a drinker who liked to play the horses and didn't hold many steady jobs. His titian-haired wife was a gritty matriarch, the linchpin who held the Cagney clan together and inspired her children to succeed. James died at age 41 in the devastating Spanish flu <span style="font-size: small;">pandemic of 1918. Not long after, Carrie gave birth to their only surviving daughter, Jeanne. The four Cagney boys were used to working at odd jobs and contributing to the household "kitty," but <span style="font-size: small;">now the family's survival depended on them.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVk7hA2BnVXHtDzo3uWP9CjYCAGAjhRfGMmfg1aMV2Cvp8wq5EzGkBeBy47_j4pZNLHMtvDQ9pKxc8Nm1cG-8GqhreyJKapgX2a3L0Q5nW55irMR_FBV40_YzuEUCj_hh_x6FiggIkTlg/s1600/NYC-Lower-East-Side.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVk7hA2BnVXHtDzo3uWP9CjYCAGAjhRfGMmfg1aMV2Cvp8wq5EzGkBeBy47_j4pZNLHMtvDQ9pKxc8Nm1cG-8GqhreyJKapgX2a3L0Q5nW55irMR_FBV40_YzuEUCj_hh_x6FiggIkTlg/s400/NYC-Lower-East-Side.jpg" width="328" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Lower East Side, early 20th Century</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jim<span style="font-size: small;">, known in the neighborhood as "Red," took his first regular part-time job at 14 as a copyboy with the New York Sun. At 15, with his brothers Harry and Ed, he worked part-time for the New York Public <span style="font-size: small;">Library. But he always had other small jobs on the side so he could better "feed the kitty." He never joined a neighborhood gang, but he was a street fighter, a tenacious one, and was good enough that he began training to become a pro. His mother, a staunch believer in education as the only sensible way out of poverty, put a stop to this plan the moment <span style="font-size: small;">he mentioned it to her.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Through the years, Carrie regularly sent her boys to neighborhood settlement houses for lectures and classes. Jim developed an interest in ecology through a talk he'd attended; this passion remained with him all his life. When oldest brother Harry was studying to become a doctor, Carrie decided it would be a good idea for him to learn something about public speaking and persuaded him to join the dramatics club at the Lenox Hill Settlement House. When Harry became ill just before a performance, Jim stepped in for him. It was his first turn as an actor. He relished the approval of</span></span></span> the audience and later recalled that 'little Jim' suddenly didn't feel quite so little.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cagney had <span style="font-size: small;">learned a po<span style="font-size: small;">pular<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> dance called The Peabody at Lenox Hill and when a friend tipped him to an opening for a dancer at $<span style="font-size: small;">35 a week in vaudeville, he took what he knew of dancing to the audition an<span style="font-size: small;">d was hired. The show was called <i>Every Sailor</i> and, to young Cagney's surprise, he would be performing in a dress. He later wrote, "And that is how I began to learn dancing - as a chorus girl." A quick study, he watched the other dancers and practiced what he saw. Af<span style="font-size: small;">ter the revue closed he toiled briefly as a runner for a Wall Street brokerage house and was grateful when he got a job as a chorus boy in the 1920 musical <i>Pitter P<span style="font-size: small;">atter</span></i><span style="font-size: small;">. Eventually he was offered a spot as a specialty dancer in the show and for the next few years w<span style="font-size: small;">o<span style="font-size: small;">rked in vaudeville performing specialty routines. One of the acts Cagney joined for a time was a "3-act" known as Park<span style="font-size: small;">, Rand & Leach. He took the pl<span style="font-size: small;">ace of Archie Leach (later Cary Grant) who was moving on. Park<span style="font-size: small;">, Rand & Cagney didn't last long either.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbr9N-Te2tQtG7jDIKkee35wuMWjSoEa55mHr1p3HjYUsJNq2js27HdwWQsTluVpZI6bWK4BbHKT3G4B4ol8ZGAlsHTI8FEW0t5eIj_0TyNJTbcRg40R_GOkvvwWxmIHrzU3Y67DiHwDc/s1600/Penny_Arcade2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbr9N-Te2tQtG7jDIKkee35wuMWjSoEa55mHr1p3HjYUsJNq2js27HdwWQsTluVpZI6bWK4BbHKT3G4B4ol8ZGAlsHTI8FEW0t5eIj_0TyNJTbcRg40R_GOkvvwWxmIHrzU3Y67DiHwDc/s320/Penny_Arcade2.jpg" width="252" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Cagney and Joan Blondell onstage, <i>Penny Arcade</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In 1925 Cagney won the role of "Little Red," one of two leads in Maxwell Anderson's new drama, <i>Outside Looking In</i>. The play co-starred Charles Bickford and opened at the Greenwich Village Theatre. Receiving good reviews, the show moved uptown where it ran for four months. Of Cagney's first performance on the legitimate stage, critic Robert Benchley cited his 10-minutes of silence during a kangaroo-court scene as "something that many a more established actor might watch with profit." When <i>Outside Looking In</i> closed, it was back to vaudeville for Cagney, but from 1928 - 1929 he worked steadily on Broadway. Then, in early 1930 he was cast, with Joan Blondell, in a new show, <i>Penny Arcade</i>. Though its Broadway run ended in just three weeks, Al Jolson happened to catch it and bought the movie rights. When he sold the rights to Warner Brothers, he recommended <a href="http://twentyfourframes.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/the-films-of-james-cagney-and-joan-blondell/"><b><span style="color: red;">Cagney and Blondell</span></b></a> to Jack Warner and they were cast in their original roles. A crime story about bootlegging, murder and a frame-up, the film - re-titled <i>Sinners' Holiday </i>(1930) - launched Cagney's film career. A New York Times critic reviewed the film positively, observing that "the most impressive acting is done by James Cagney..."</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">The picture that made Cagney a star was his fourth for Wa<span style="font-size: small;">rners, </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: red;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.classicmoviesnippets.blogspot.com/2013/04/james-cagney-blogathon-public-enemy-1931.html"><span style="color: red;"><b>The Public Enemy</b></span></a></span></span></span></i></span></i></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><i><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></i></b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">(1931)</span></span>. <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Esquire</i>'s Dwight McDonald would write that Cagney's heartless and brutal thug, Tom Powers, made Humphrey Bogart look like a "conscience-stricken Hamlet." Though the actor always regarded his Hollywood career as transitory, Cagney would never have to look back after the break-out success of <i>The Public Enemy</i>. He received star billing thereafter.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8bDasIcrI7j_yG_gvNMRCabNwzy7ay2CdZKH9SH3Qw7uIYyExlV6ysWxPxEkvkjFb8cFPSww5BhQg2tWOawMdhruQisowOqVkluGllfrPeMqGKMR9TQk010jJUDZSuz-MoOouA7dLwts/s1600/Public_Enemy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8bDasIcrI7j_yG_gvNMRCabNwzy7ay2CdZKH9SH3Qw7uIYyExlV6ysWxPxEkvkjFb8cFPSww5BhQg2tWOawMdhruQisowOqVkluGllfrPeMqGKMR9TQk010jJUDZSuz-MoOouA7dLwts/s320/Public_Enemy.jpg" width="262" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Cagney and Jean Harlow, <i>The Public Enemy </i>(1931)</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cagney's memories of <i>The Public Enemy </i>included <span style="font-size: small;">the on-the-set hazards of making gangster films before the use of prop ammunition<span style="font-size: small;">. Real bullets were routinely used and he had a close call in a scene involving machine-gun fire. Dodging bullets wouldn't be Cagney's only grievance with Hollywood. He'd become a headliner in less than a year, but his contract didn't mirror his popularity at the box office. Early on he vocally objected to the low pay and unholy hours the studio imposed. He called it a "factory ap<span style="font-size: small;">pr<span style="font-size: small;">oach." When the Screen Actors Guild was founded in 1933, Cagney joined and was elected to its board of directors. He later served a term as SAG president.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">With the help of his youngest brother Bill, who he had enlisted as his business manager (Harry and Ed had both become doctors), he doggedly battled Warners. Jack Warner referred to him as <span style="font-size: small;">"the professional again<span style="font-size: small;">ster<span style="font-size: small;">." Production head Hal Wallis called him "our house rebel."</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">During a contentious separation from Warners in 1936, Cagney traveled east with a friend and spent <span style="font-size: small;">time on Martha's Vineyard. Years earlier, as a boy, he had fallen in love with the countryside while visiting relatives who lived in rural <span style="font-size: small;">New York. Now he could afford to buy a country property of his own. The Vineyard seemed the ideal location - he would own a farm surrounded by the sea. He purchased a 100-year-old farm<span style="font-size: small;">house on 100 acres that was only accessible by dir<span style="font-size: small;">t road for $7,500; annual taxes totaled just $39. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.mvmagazine.com/article.php?29665"><span style="color: red;"><b>Cagney's Chilmark Farm</b></span></a></span></span></span></i></span></i></span></b></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;"><b>  </b></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">became a much-loved retreat</span></span></span> <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">where he could enjoy a tranquility his life in Hollywood lacked. The stand-offish Vineyard locals came to know and <span style="font-size: small;">admire him and would call him, with sincerity, a good neighbor.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvwisnoqoMVT0ww9dAlDjGwnC4YDEpLJsZRBIAuJbeIXtTD7WaySqBRFTNXTO29TOSeUkqhqyrW0ShskoK32JvijMuUyQun_4uNNOMuQYFxoonQWf_iBm1RNup9A7lXddlWdUOZmlUYJk/s1600/Boys_Club.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvwisnoqoMVT0ww9dAlDjGwnC4YDEpLJsZRBIAuJbeIXtTD7WaySqBRFTNXTO29TOSeUkqhqyrW0ShskoK32JvijMuUyQun_4uNNOMuQYFxoonQWf_iBm1RNup9A7lXddlWdUOZmlUYJk/s400/Boys_Club.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Irish Mafia, l -r, seated: Tracy, O'Brien, McHugh, Cagney; standing: Overman</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">In Hollywood, Cagney concocted another form of respite. With a close-knit band of actor friends, he started The Boys Club. An industry columnist nicknamed the informal group "The Irish <span style="font-size: small;">Mafia." Its core members were Cagney, P<span style="font-size: small;">at O'Brien, Frank McHugh, Spencer Tracy, Lynne Overman, Ralph Be<span style="font-size: small;">llamy and Frank Morgan. They sometimes talked shop but, according to <span style="font-size: small;">McHugh, their <span style="font-size: small;">nights out were more concerned with stimulating conversation and laughs tha<span style="font-size: small;">n the movie business.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cagney began work on <a href="http://1001moviesblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/angels-with-dirty-faces-1938-12.html"><span style="color: red;"><b><i>Angels with Dirty Faces</i></b></span></a> (1938) after his latest problems with Warners had been ironed out.  </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">For this film, a crime thriller about childhood friends whose lives go in different directions, the studio afforded a generous budget. A tenement set covered four city blocks and street scenes included authentic push carts and hurdy-gurdies. E<span style="font-size: small;">ven Cagney was impressed, "...when the studio put its heart into doing a thing, they went all the way.<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">" This time out Cagney refused to work with live bullets. Though director Michael Curtiz assured him he was safe, the actor insisted on a process shot f<span style="font-size: small;">or a shoot-out scene. It was a good thing he stood his ground. The machine-gun fire, supplied by the same gunner who had worked on <i>The Public Enemy</i>, hit precisely where Cagney would've been standing<span style="font-size: small;"> in the shot.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlWeeH3o6VoElyXmqFV5ji5p0myuFLUGlC9AY6diznjqwgZ4O_GpTwtbprBBZS-mxLBLFJrnqR3QMfvJaMfWrQ_N_km1QmqXcFY731jDHkjvgv0kbWadYt0dzcJ1q31uVp1xOjRsD72p0/s1600/angels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlWeeH3o6VoElyXmqFV5ji5p0myuFLUGlC9AY6diznjqwgZ4O_GpTwtbprBBZS-mxLBLFJrnqR3QMfvJaMfWrQ_N_km1QmqXcFY731jDHkjvgv0kbWadYt0dzcJ1q31uVp1xOjRsD72p0/s400/angels.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Angels with Dirty Faces </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(1938), Cagney surrounded by The Dead End Kids</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">For the role of archetypal gangster Rocky Sullivan, Cagney based his portrayal in part on a local character he'd seen on the streets as a kid. He was "a hophead and a pimp" who stood on a corner all day, hitching up his pants, pulling at his necktie, moving his shoulders, snapping his fingers and smacking his hands together. The mannerisms with which Cagney endowed <span style="font-size: small;">Sullivan would provide the material for a legion of impressionists years l<span style="font-size: small;">ater. An exact replica of Sing Sing's death cell and corridor to the electric cha<span style="font-size: small;">i<span style="font-size: small;">r w<span style="font-size: small;">ere created for the film. A<span style="font-size: small;">s Rocky Sullivan walked fr<span style="font-size: small;">om the cell to his fate, James Cagney was thinking of the neighborhood boy he knew best in his youth, Peter Hessling, known as "Bootah." In his autobiography, the actor wrote he would always remember July 21, 1927. On that night he was performing on Broadway, Jack Demp<span style="font-size: small;">sey KO'ed Jack Sharkey, and Bootah went to the electric chair at Sing Sing. "I wept when I heard about<span style="font-size: small;"> him,<span style="font-size: small;">" he recalled. <span style="font-size: small;">The irony that <span style="font-size: small;">art was imitating his life - with a twist<span style="font-size: small;"> -</span> in <i>Angels with Dirty Faces </i>was not lost on him. </span>Cagney received his first Best Actor nomin<span style="font-size: small;">ation from the Academy <span style="font-size: small;">for his performance and was named Best Actor by the New York Film Critics Circle.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLnQzVzPpQi8snuwI3YdL9vWwGMKONNOiiuyD-h_Z3Xn5mKd_DfLlzyzawdA9BzAI96t_xGuVb33YoIlqlcOWT72sBDYDkJnZNCl4dFOpcrflD6hQFZ3LXrUpdXYo02O6vXTh4N-T66T4/s1600/Cagney_Chilmark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLnQzVzPpQi8snuwI3YdL9vWwGMKONNOiiuyD-h_Z3Xn5mKd_DfLlzyzawdA9BzAI96t_xGuVb33YoIlqlcOWT72sBDYDkJnZNCl4dFOpcrflD6hQFZ3LXrUpdXYo02O6vXTh4N-T66T4/s400/Cagney_Chilmark.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Cagney's Chilmark property, Martha's Vineyard, photo by David Welch</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">By the time he marked his first decade in Hollywood, Cagney was on<span style="font-size: small;"> his way to becoming a wealthy man. Not only did he have a more lucrative deal with Warners, but he had also begun buying real estate. His properties would include a small island at the tip of Southern California's Balboa Island, acreage in the desert town of Twentynine Palms, California, his home on 10 acres in Beverly Hills, the Martha's <span style="font-size: small;">Vineyard estate, a farm in Northridge, California, and the vast Verney Farm in Dutchess County, New York.  Also at this time, his entire family - mother<span style="font-size: small;">, sister and all three brothers - rel<span style="font-size: small;">ocated to Los Angeles. </span></span>His wife, Willie (aka/"<span style="font-size: small;">my Bill")</span>, a dancer he'd met on <i>Pitter Patter</i> in 1920 and married in 1922, didn't mix with the Cagney clan, but Jim was nevertheless thrilled to have everyone close at hand. In 1940 Jim and Willie adopted a son, Jim<span style="font-size: small;">, Jr., and in 1941 <span style="font-size: small;">they adopted a baby girl known as Casey.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div></div><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB7oFL8lObqCQa1YDW3j2ktB0xdaSpHwGsuXSQ6ZZhisFR0thBpPCuPcYNdtC0ok-O323h7sla0GpeQozoZVWsroBLQMoU9yaF3aGBSIKdO7xgJMc_g9owxY2HNqMECxJf1GTN_VAP5aQ/s1600/yankee-doodle-dandy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB7oFL8lObqCQa1YDW3j2ktB0xdaSpHwGsuXSQ6ZZhisFR0thBpPCuPcYNdtC0ok-O323h7sla0GpeQozoZVWsroBLQMoU9yaF3aGBSIKdO7xgJMc_g9owxY2HNqMECxJf1GTN_VAP5aQ/s320/yankee-doodle-dandy.jpg" width="278" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Yankee Doodle Dandy </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(1942)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Because of his ongoing disputes with Warner Brothers and his progressive politics, Cagney had been tagged a "radical." The Dies Committee (1938 - 1944) was the first incarnation of HUAC and in 1940 when the LA County District Attorney named Cagney as a person with an interest in the Communist Party</span>, the actor met the accusation head-on. First he called a press conference and passionately denied the charge. Next he met with Rep. Martin Dies, head of the Congressional committee, and stated his case in person. Dies effectively put the matter to rest. <i><a href="http://www.classicfilmboy.com/2013/04/james-cagney-blogathon-yankee-doodle.html"><span style="color: red;"><b>Yankee Doodle Dandy</b></span></a> </i>(1942) began making its way toward production soon afterward. The role of Broadway's legendary and multifaceted George M. Cohan was a perfect fit for Cagney, who said of himself, "once a song-and -dance man, always a song-and-dance man" and neatly described his own style as "flash, with always a dash of the eccentric and a bit of humor." The film lifted his career to another peak; his performance earned him an Academy Award and his second Best Actor award from the New York Film Critics. <i>Yankee Doodle Dandy</i>, released in the early days of World War II, also cemented his reputation as a good and patriotic American.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">On behalf of the war effort, Cagney took part in many war bond drives, traveled with the USO and gave the U.S. Army access to his Vineyard property for use in its maneuvers. Also during the war years, Jim and his brother Bill established Cagney Productions. The company produced three features before it was absorbed into Warner Brothers as a production unit.</span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWaJioRfO_d41KtDZm_nXd3367DM5nXT1mPlER5m6wSmqhJ-stxO4jD5JLQ8X3nhZ0DRkzzhnv2E2mSbdLx_DWvvUA8L68iEZlU7O6lBAJyyVc0RmSbW6PegpseNmlm51XypE16Tk83Y0/s1600/WhiteHeat_1949_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWaJioRfO_d41KtDZm_nXd3367DM5nXT1mPlER5m6wSmqhJ-stxO4jD5JLQ8X3nhZ0DRkzzhnv2E2mSbdLx_DWvvUA8L68iEZlU7O6lBAJyyVc0RmSbW6PegpseNmlm51XypE16Tk83Y0/s400/WhiteHeat_1949_01.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">White Heat </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(1949)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">John McCabe's 1997 biography, <i>Cagney</i>, opens with a disturbing domestic scene. Young Jim sits in the kitchen closely watching his father across the dining table. The elder Cagney starts rocking from side to side and then begins a "low keening" that will build to a wail. These episodes were called "Dad's fits" and would portend Cagney's Cody Jarrett in <i><a href="http://themovieprojector.blogspot.com/2013/04/white-heat-1949.html"><b><span style="color: red;">White Heat</span></b></a> </i>(1949). The actor considered it "a good picture in a number of ways." The original script had been typical formula, what he called "the old knock-down-drag-'em-out," so, as he he often did, he set about making improvements. He suggested to the writers that the story be modeled on Ma Barker and her boys and that Jarrett be psychotic. This, Cagney reasoned, would be a natural set-up to his character's climactic demise. It was also his notion that Jarrett be a mama's boy and proposed a scene with Cody sitting on his mother's lap. "Let's see if we can get away with this," he said to director Raoul Walsh. They did. Virginia Mayo, who played Cagney's mistress, remembered of working with him that, "he always gave to you more than you gave to him" and was astonished that he wasn't Oscar-nominated for his performance.</span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEXPug_10djM8EI1NPmgll9c0bJNmcqjldst7pdwlM-xBjb3xF-fqhiFZa72JAG64yrHcfIQwx8wTYdPIs4v4zgHirK8a24dElJ9Z-yCRH0Fm9RTjtLTwQomvxrzhrGuetu6YJMKIC51A/s1600/love-me-or-leave-me-day-cagney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEXPug_10djM8EI1NPmgll9c0bJNmcqjldst7pdwlM-xBjb3xF-fqhiFZa72JAG64yrHcfIQwx8wTYdPIs4v4zgHirK8a24dElJ9Z-yCRH0Fm9RTjtLTwQomvxrzhrGuetu6YJMKIC51A/s320/love-me-or-leave-me-day-cagney.jpg" width="248" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Doris Day and Cagney, <i>Love Me or Leave Me </i>(1955)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Cagney would receive his final Academy Award nomination for <i><a href="http://lecinemadreams.blogspot.com/2013/04/love-me-or-leave-me-1955.html"><b><span style="color: red;">Love Me or Leave Me</span></b></a> </i>(1955), the film that revealed Doris Day's dramatic potential, and most of his later film performances were well received. The making of Billy Wilder's <i><a href="http://filmsworthwatching.blogspot.com/2013/04/one-two-three-1961-directed-by-billy.html"><span style="color: red;"><b>One, Two, Three</b></span></a> </i>(1961) was a frustrating, unhappy experience for Cagney and during filming he decided to retire when the picture wrapped. For the next 20 years he would spend most of his time on his working farm in New York and on Martha's Vineyard. His cherished pastimes included raising Morgan horses, sailing and painting.</span><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIYnB7nWe2pVK_ZSF8Js7m3NXff_eumRnWuoPXoXsCymDvUaPkIaJHLeuTtaavGq8M4piLm57WsXv776OKa3WJLozRdOk90hqqiRdocC2VvJOedcFPWkTAbPXwsYN6It3uTR6Fbzd99zc/s1600/ragtime.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIYnB7nWe2pVK_ZSF8Js7m3NXff_eumRnWuoPXoXsCymDvUaPkIaJHLeuTtaavGq8M4piLm57WsXv776OKa3WJLozRdOk90hqqiRdocC2VvJOedcFPWkTAbPXwsYN6It3uTR6Fbzd99zc/s320/ragtime.jpg" width="202" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ragtime</span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> (1981)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In 1974 he became the first actor to receive the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award. He was accorded Kennedy Center honors in 1980, and in 1981 returned to the screen for a high-profile cameo role in <i>Ragtime</i>, Milos Forman's film adaptation of E. L. Doctorow's best-seller. In 1984 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Of Cagney, Orson Welles said, "He always played right at the top of his bent, but he was always <i>true</i>. Sure, acting <i>can</i> be too <i>broad</i>. Broad is wide - spread out. Cagney was <i>focused</i>. Christ, like a laser beam! Cagney was one of the biggest actors in the whole history of the screen. Force, style, truth, and control - he had everything. He pulled no punches. God, how he projected! And yet nobody could call Cagney a ham. He didn't bother about reducing himself to fit the scale of the camera; he was much too busy doing his job."</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elia Kazan, who'd had a small role in <i><a href="http://thegirlwiththewhiteparasol.blogspot.com/2013/04/movie-review-city-for-conquest.html"><span style="color: red;"><b>City for Conquest</b></span></a> </i>(1940), recalled Cagney as "a completely honest actor." Kazan erroneously assumed that Cagney had fully worked out his performance in advance, at home, and marveled that "what he did always seemed spontaneous."</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Late in life Cagney looked back on working with a young actor who went through intense preparation before every scene. When a scene had to be re-shot, Cagney viewed the second take. "There I realized what the difficulty was...he was doing it for <i>himself</i>, not the audience. He was psyching himself up to <i>be</i> the character, instead of just understanding the character and playing it for the audience." Cagney's philosophy on acting was simply stated and often quoted, "You walk in, plant yourself squarely on both feet, look the other fella in the eye and tell the truth." Those who worked with him would doubtless agree that is exactly what he did.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">James Cagney died at Verney Farm in 1986 at age 86. His pallbearers included a former heavyweight champion (Floyd Patterson), a ballet legend (Mikhail Baryshnikov), an Academy Award winning film director (Milos Forman), movie producer A.C. Lyles, and one of his closest long-time friends, actor Ralph Bellamy. He was eulogized by the President of the United States and his New York Times obituary mourned the passing of the "Master of Pugnacious Grace."</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">CAGNEY ACCEPTING THE <span style="font-size: x-small;">AFI'<span style="font-size: x-small;">s <span style="font-size: x-small;">LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD IN 1974</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XXxZCrM04uI" width="420"></iframe> <br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cagney's AFI ceremony was said to be "the most star-studded <span style="font-size: x-small;">gathering in Hollywood history" and that "if a bomb had been dropped on the assemblage, Hollywood would have been wiped out."</span></span> </span></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIlCJeGekFXgw4gCbcuEG4ZcnxwBYrn3yaqHUxZzmpYjv4GDrXsfjig9mPItgH2mogKljSma9qbUcJjBrbjExR97SZd5IRDkPauu0lIKD7eYfRLwtTmsDSyD5K_cZbUSvCgBlSGWJbeRI/s1600/art_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIlCJeGekFXgw4gCbcuEG4ZcnxwBYrn3yaqHUxZzmpYjv4GDrXsfjig9mPItgH2mogKljSma9qbUcJjBrbjExR97SZd5IRDkPauu0lIKD7eYfRLwtTmsDSyD5K_cZbUSvCgBlSGWJbeRI/s1600/art_2.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Still life paintings by James Cagney</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>Notes</u>:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Cagney by Cagney</i> by James Cagney, Doubleday (1976)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Cagney</i> by John McCabe, Knopf (1997)</span><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd2IJAqF_wB2pUhih7XA8c2AuT9bb3dQpIim0XQzLy61SRcahuqOPLy5RVoDfI5GdOHg_-KXceylzl96dzNmWX6COoKTuEYib97pWGulP7SdjD6UeitiXRqyPGTIRncEIjIHr8MzqKM_k/s1600/CIMBA+Performer+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd2IJAqF_wB2pUhih7XA8c2AuT9bb3dQpIim0XQzLy61SRcahuqOPLy5RVoDfI5GdOHg_-KXceylzl96dzNmWX6COoKTuEYib97pWGulP7SdjD6UeitiXRqyPGTIRncEIjIHr8MzqKM_k/s320/CIMBA+Performer+2013.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> <i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The Classic Movie Blog Association honored this post with</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i> the 2013 CiMBA Award for Best Profile of a Performer</i></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>

Angels With Dirty Faces Cagney Blogathon James Cagney The Lady Eve (author) The Movie Projector The Public Enemy White Heat Yankee Doodle Dandy CAGNEY

Cagney, color by Claroscureaux "...every time I see him work, looks to me like a bunch of firecrackers going off all at once." Wil...

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