Ultimate Movie Rankings
Ranking James Cagney Movies. Includes James Cagney Box Office Grosses. Best James Cagney Movies. Worst James Cagney Movies. Reviews, Awards and Trailers.
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Ten Possibily Interesting Facts About James Cagney

1. His role in 1931’s The Public Enemy(only his 4th film), turned him into a star. The most famous scene in the movie is where Cagney’s character smashes a grapefruit into the face of his co-star Mae Davis.

2. Cagney was one of the first stars to refuse to appear in movie scenes where live ammunition was used, experts would stand off camera and fire the guns near the actors…..sounds pretty safe to me.

3. Cagney was Warner Brothers most profitable actor in the 1930s….his movies returned an average of 42% return on investment. Of the 38 movies he made for Warner Brothers only two did not make money. 1935’s A Midnight Summer’s Dream and 1938’s Boy Meets Girl. On the positive side….1934’s The St. Louis Kid was produced for $80,000 and returned 1.8 million dollars at the box office. Not a bad return on investment.

4. Despite being Warner Brothers most profitable actor….he was one of their least paid stars….this resulted in Cagney walking out on Warner Brothers twice. ….In 1936/37 he successfully sued Warner Brothers…..and starting earning equal money to the other Warner Brother stars.

5. In 1933 Cagney helped establish the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He served as the President of SAG for two years.

6. Cagney married dancer Frances Willard “Billie” Vernon in 1922, they were married 63 years before Cagney passed away in 1986….pretty impressive for any marriage much less a Hollywood marriage.

7. Cagney was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award® three times……his first nomination was 1938’s Angels With Dirty Faces, his second and only win was 1942’s Yankee Doodle Dandy and his final nomination was 1955’s Love Me or Leave Me.

8. Cagney’s line “Made it, Ma! Top of the world! from 1949’s White Heat is number 18 on the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest movie quotes. …speaking of famous quotes Cagney never said the line….”You dirty rat”….it is one of the greatest misquotes in movie history….the closest he came to saying that was “Mmm, that dirty, double-crossin’ rat,” in 1931’s Blonde Crazy.

9. Cagney appeared in 63 movies in his career….another Warner Brothers star, Pat O Brien co-starred in 9 Cagney movies…..Cagney retired in 1961 after making One, Two, Three….he would make only one more movie….twenty years later ….in 1981’s Ragtime.

10. Here are some of the more famous movie roles Cagney passed on…..Hyman Roth in The Godfather Part 2, The Adventures of Robin Hood (Flynn did pretty good in role), Harry and Tonto Art Carney won Oscar® for this role), Logan’s Run, and My Fair Lady (as Audrey Hepburn’s father).

Check out James Cagney ‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

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