For Release: May 11, 1998

The Turner Classic Movies (TCM) cable network will salute one of the screenís most gifted and admired stars during James Cagney Week, a seven-day festival of more than 40 Cagney films, airing June 1-7. In addition, TCM will feature James Cagney: Top Of The World (June 6, 7 p.m.), the 1992 documentary hosted by Michael J. Fox that chronicles CagneyÌs remarkable life and career.

TCMís James Cagney Week will be a comprehensive journey through Cagneyís career, ranging from his film debut opposite Joan Blondell in 1930ís SINNERSÌ HOLIDAY (June 5, 12:45 a.m.) and his star-making performance in the 1931 gangster classic THE PUBLIC ENEMY (June 5, 8 p.m.) to the Billy Wilder comedy ONE, TWO, THREE (1961, June 7, 8 p.m.), after which Cagney announced his retirement from the screen. Included are such other Cagney gems: A MIDSUMMER NIGHTÌS DREAM (1935, 2:45 p.m.), ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES (1938, June 6, 1:40 p.m.), YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942, June 1, 8 p.m.), LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME (1955, June 1, 10:30 p.m.) and WHITE HEAT (1949, June 6, 8 p.m.).

Cagney came by his street smarts honestly. The son of an Irish bartender father and a Norwegian mother, he grew up on the Lower East Side of New York City. Before making his name on Broadway in the mid-1920s, he worked as a waiter, poolroom racker and chorus boy. After his success in the Broadway show Penny Arcade, he and co-star Blondell were brought to Hollywood in 1930 to appear in the film version, retitled SINNERSÌ HOLIDAY.

Some highlights of James Cagney Week on TCM include:

THE PUBLIC ENEMY, originally titled BEER AND BLOOD, began filming with Eddie Woods in the star role of Prohibition-era gangster Tom Powers, and Cagney in the second lead. Three days into shooting, director William Wellman convinced Warner Bros. production chief Darryl F. Zanuck that the casting should be reversed, and a star was born. Among many memorable moments in CagneyÌs fierce performance as Powers is the shocking breakfast scene in which he shoves a grapefruit into the face of girlfriend Mae Clark.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHTÌS DREAM, WarnersÌ all-star screen version of ShakespeareÌs fantasy, featuring Cagney as Bottom the Weaver. His sprightly performance marked one of the first signs of his remarkable versatility and led director Max Reinhardt to proclaim Cagney Ïthe best actor in Hollywood.Ó

ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES allowed Cagney to return to tough-guy terrain as Rocky Sullivan, a hoodlum idolized by a youngster even though heÌs facing the electric chair. With Pat OÌBrien and Humphrey Bogart in supporting roles, Cagney delivers a knockout performance that won his first Oscar^® nomination as Best Actor.

YANKEE DOODLE DANDY reveals yet another facet of the quicksilver Cagney talent, the vaudeville and Broadway hoofer. As patriotic composer George M. Cohan, Cagney acted with typical force and sincerity and delighted audiences with his feisty singing and dancing. This performance won him both the New York Film CriticsÌ Award and the Oscar^® as Best Actor of 1942.

WHITE HEAT has Cagney in one of his most flamboyant roles as Cody Jarrett, a psychotic, mother-fixated killer. The climax, a classic Cagney moment, has the trapped character exploding both figuratively and literally as he yells, ÏMade it, Maótop of the world!Ó just before firing his gun into an oil-refinery storage tank and blowing himself up.

LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME, MGMÌs musical biography about Ruth Etting, memorably teams Doris Day as the 1920s singer and Cagney as Martin ÏThe GimpÓ Snyder, the Chicago racketeer who strong-armed her into a successful career and a stormy marriage. For his fiery performance, Cagney won his third Oscar^® nomination.

Turner Classic Movies, currently seen in more than 22 million homes, is a 24-hour cable network from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. TCM presents the greatest motion pictures of all time from the largest film library in the world, the combined Time Warner and Turner film libraries, from the 1920s through the 1980s, commercial free and without interruption. For more information, please visit the TCM website at (http://TCM.turner.com).