DID YOU KNOW THIS ABOUT JAMES CAGNEY:
** Brother of actor-producer William Cagney and of actress Jeanne Cagney.
** Father of actor James Cagney Jr.
** Pictured on a 33¢ USA commemorative postage stamp in the Legends of Hollywood series, issued 22 July 1999.
** Had two adopted children, Cathleen “Cassie” and James Jr.
** Earned a Black Belt in Judo.
** Was of Irish-Norwegian origin.
** Originally a very left-wing Democrat activist during the 1930s, Cagney later switched his viewpoint and became progressively more conservative with age. He supported his friend Ronald Reagan’s campaigns for the Governorship of California in 1966 and 1970, as well as his Presidential campaigns in 1980 and 1984. President Reagan delivered the eulogy at Cagney’s funeral in 1986.
** In his autobiography, he mentions that while in the chorus of the musical “Pitter Patter”, he earned $55 a week, of which he sent $40 a week home to his mother. As his salary increased, so did the amount he sent back home. In The Public Enemy (1931), he earned $400 a week, sending over $300 back home. Until his mother passed, he never kept more than 50% of his earnings.
** Often left the set early claiming he was too ill to continue filming in order to ensure an extra day of filming so that the extras and the film crew, whom he thought woefully underpaid, could get an additional day’s salary.
** Wrote that of the sixty-two films he made, he rated Love Me or Leave Me (1955) costarring Doris Day among his top five.
** Part of the first group of major stars to join the Screen Actors Guild in October 1933 as member number 50. Before his Guild presidency, he served nearly a decade on the Board and as First Vice President. Cagney was elected Guild president in September 1942.
** Although closely associated with his friend Pat O’Brien who co-starred with Cagney in 9 movies, Cagney actually made more movies with his other close friend Frank McHugh. 11 in total which included: The Crowd Roars (1932), Footlight Parade (1933), Here Comes The Navy (1934), Devil Dogs Of The Air (1935), The Irish In Us (1935), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935), Boy Meets Girl (1938), The Roaring Twenties (1939), The Fighting 69th (1940), City For Conquest, (1940), A Lion Is In The Streets (1953).
** Cagney and best friends Frank McHugh & Pat O’Brien, were known collectively and affectionately as the ‘Irish Mafia’ and would often be seen out together around Hollywood nightclubs having a quiet drink and a chat. Other members of this close knit social group included actors Lynne Overman, Ralph Bellamy, Frank Morgan, Bert Lahr, Allen Jenkins and Spencer Tracy.