Cat. #0008012223: JAMES CAGNEY

Nifty vintage 8x10-inch glossy black and white portrait in his prime, boldly signed in black felt-tip pen in the early 1980s. In good condition. With his often-impersonated raspy voice and staccato vocal inflections, James Cagney was one of the brightest stars in American cinema history. In 1930, he recreated his role in the hot play "Penny Arcade" in the film adaptation, Sinner's Holiday, and, within a year, he was signed by Warner Brothers. In his fifth film with the studio, he portrayed the ruthless gangster in Public Enemy (1931), and, practically overnight, became every American's favorite antihero. Audiences loved the small, rather plain-looking man who, while lacking the looks usually associated with the traditional Hollywood leading man of the era, projected a contentious, arrogant confidence and dynamic energy. Unforgettable in subsequent gangster films, most notably Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) and White Heat (1949), Cagney was never content to play one type of role, testin