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March 31, 1986 OBITUARY James Cagney Is Dead at 86; Master of Pugnacious Grace By PETER B. FLINT ames Cagney, the cocky and pugnacious film star who set the standard for gangster roles in ''The Public Enemy'' and won an Academy Award for his portrayal of George M. Cohan in ''Yankee Doodle Dandy,'' died yesterday at his Dutchess County farm in upstate New York. He was 86 years old. Mr. Cagney had been hospitalized earlier this month at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. But his wife of 64 years, known as Willie, took him back to the familiar surroundings of his home just over a week ago. Mr. Cagney had an explosive energy and a two-fisted vitality that made him one of the great film personalities of Hollywood's golden age. An actor who could evoke pathos or humor, he invested scores of roles with a hungry intensity, punctuated by breathless slang, curling lips and spontaneous humor. A former vaudevillian and, in his youth, a formidable street fighter, the 5-foot-8 1/2-inch, chunky, red-haired actor intuitively choreographed his motions with a body language that projected the image of an eager, bouncy terrier. His walk was jaunty and his manner defiant. But along with his belligerence he displayed a comic zest in inventive, sometimes outrageous actions. He could play a hoofer as adeptly as a gangster, and whether brutish or impish, he molded a character that personified an urban Irish-American of irrepressible spirit. | |
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