James Cagney was an American actor. He was the second of seven children born to James Francis Cagney, Sr. and Carolyn Nelson. He attended Columbia College, but had to drop out to take up a job after his father’s death. After many odd jobs, including working as a scenery boy, he landed a role in a pantomime. He then auditioned, and won the role of a chorus girl in the play “Every Sailor”. He was an amateur boxer, and was typecast as a gangster in many movies including “The Public Enemy”, “Smart Money”, “Angels with Dirty Faces”, “Love Me or Leave Me”, for which he won a Best Actor Academy Award nomination, and “White Heat”. He tried to shrug off his gangster image in the following years. He started Cagney Productions with his brother, and was also president of the Screen Actors Guild. “Taxi!” was the movie in which he danced on screen the first time, and the last time he allowed himself to be shot at with live ammunition which was a common practise then. His other acclaimed movies were “The Gallant Hours”, and “Yankee Doodle Dandy” which won him an Academy Award for Best Actor.