Question 1

True or false: Cagney famously ad-libbed "You dirty rat!" in multiple gangster films.

Accepted Answer

False. He never actually said that exact line. The closest was "Come out and take it, you dirty, yellow-bellied rat!" in "Blonde Crazy" (1931).

Question 2

True or false: James Cagney won an Oscar for his role in "Yankee Doodle Dandy."

Accepted Answer

True. He won Best Actor in 1942 for his portrayal of George M. Cohan, a role he famously performed in one take for the title song.

Question 3

True or false: James Cagney was a lifelong chain smoker who died of lung cancer.

Accepted Answer

False. He actually quit smoking early in his career and lived to age 86, dying of diabetes-related complications at his farm in 1986.

Question 4

True or false: He began his career as a silent film star in the 1910s.

Accepted Answer

False. Cagney started in vaudeville and Broadway in the 1920s, then moved to talkies in 1930 with "Sinner's Holiday." He never made silent films.

Question 5

True or false: Cagney was a trained ballet dancer before becoming a Hollywood star.

Accepted Answer

True. He studied ballet and tap as a young man, which gave him the incredible athletic grace seen in his fight scenes and dance numbers.

Question 6

True or false: He was a close personal friend of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Accepted Answer

False. Though Cagney was a Democrat and met FDR once, they weren't close. He actually had a tense relationship with the White House due to his union activism.

Question 7

True or false: He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild for three terms.

Accepted Answer

True. Cagney was SAG president from 1942 to 1944, actively supporting actors' rights and union solidarity during World War II.

Question 8

True or false: Cagney once turned down the role of Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Accepted Answer

True. He declined the part, saying he felt too old and didn't want to leave his farm in Virginia for a long shoot. Gregory Peck later won an Oscar.

James Cagney Trivia Questions