We see that javascript is disabled or not supported by your browser - javascript is needed for important actions on the site. Read more

What's New - Home - Login

Member $avings: $81,555,234.81 | Books Available: 798,477 | Members Online: 54

Swap Used Books - Buy New Books at Great Prices!

How To Swap Books Sign Up Search submenu

PBS Market (New Books)

Gift Buying Guide

Book Browser Advanced Search Books Posted Today Member Book Reviews Award Winning Books NYT Best Sellers Amazon Best Sellers Most Traveled Copies Club Wish List

Discussion Forums Book Lists

Club Lists My Book Lists My Watched Lists Create a List

Blog Donations

School Donation Program In Memory of... Military Donation Program Friends of PBS

Box-O-Books Maps The Eclectic Pen Fun Stuff

20 Questions Sudoku Bookmark Creator

Top 100

Requests Posts Swappers Referrers Reviewers

Pulse of PBS Spread The Word

Invite Friends Bookmarks Facebook Page Facebook App More Ways...

Photo Gallery Recipes Club Tag Cloud Member Testimonials

Help Center submenu

How To Swap Books Browse Help Docs Ask the Librarian PBS Member Icons Live Help

Kiosk

PBS Market (New Books) Go Shopping Buy Credits Buy PBS Money Upgrade Membership Gift Certificates Transfer Credits

Need Help?

Search - American Legends: The Life of James Cagney

American Legends The Life of James Cagney
Author: Charles River Editors

*Includes pictures. — *Includes Cagney's own quotes about his life and career. — *Includes a bibliography for further reading. — "You don't psych yourself up for these things, you do them...I'm acting for the audience, not for myself, and I do it as directly as I can." ? James Cagney — A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history?s mo... more »st influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors? American Legends series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of America?s most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

When the American Film Institute assembled its top 100 actors of all time at the close of the 20th century, one of the Top 10 was James Cagney, an actor whose acting and dancing talents spawned a stage and film career that spanned over 5 decades and once compelled Orson Welles to call him "maybe the greatest actor to ever appear in front of a camera." Indeed, his portrayal of ?The Man Who Owns Broadway?, George M. Cohan, earned him an Academy Award in the musical Yankee Doodle Dandy, and as famed director Milos Forman once put it, "I think he's some kind of genius. His instinct, it's just unbelievable. I could just stay at home. One of the qualities of a brilliant actor is that things look better on the screen than the set. Jimmy has that quality."

Ultimately, it was portraying tough guys and gangsters in the 1930s that turned Cagney into a massive Hollywood star, and they were the kind of roles he was literally born to play after growing up rough in Manhattan at the turn of the 20th century. In movies like The Public Enemy (which included the infamous ?grapefruit scene?) and White Heat, Cagney convincingly played criminals that brought Warner to the forefront of Hollywood and the gangster genre. Cagney also helped pave the way for younger actors in the genre, like Humphrey Bogart, and he was so good that he found himself in danger of being typecast.

While Cagney is no longer remembered as fondly or as well as Bogart, he was also crucial in helping establish the system in which actors worked as independent workers free from the constraints of studios. Refusing to be pushed around, Cagney was constantly involved in contract squabbles with Warner, and he often came out on top, bucking the conventional system that saw studios treat their stars as indentured servants who had to make several films a year.

American Legends: The Life of James Cagney examines the life and career of one of Hollywood?s most iconic actors. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Cagney like never before, in no time at all.

ISBN-13: 9781494495794
ISBN-10: 1494495791
Publication Date: 12/15/2013
Pages: 36
Rating:

Currently 5/5 Stars.

5 stars, based on 1 rating

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Read All 1 Book Reviews of "American Legends The Life of James Cagney"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

jjares reviewed American Legends: The Life of James Cagney on 10/25/2021 + 3266 more book reviews

Jimmy Cagney was a total professional and a joy to watch, whether he was dancing or slugging someone in a movie. I thoroughly enjoyed this recitation of his life. I'd read his life story years ago but this brought much of it back. We are so fortunate that someone of Cagney's skill and expertise was around to make movies when he did. So many of his movies are considered classics. I can always watch YANKEE DOODLE DANDY -- anytime and anywhere. Are you aware Cagney was 41 when he made that movie?

Share/Like this Review?

Read All Book Reviews of "American Legends The Life of James Cagney"

Genres:

Biographies & Memoirs >> Arts & Literature >> Actors & Entertainers
Biographies & Memoirs >> Historical >> United States
Biographies & Memoirs >> Specific Groups >> Women
History >> Americas >> United States
History >> World >> Women in History
Humor & Entertainment

Back to the Top ↑

Search - American Legends: The Life of James Cagney

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

Loading...