James “Jimmy” Cagney, who died on 30 March 1986, is best remembered for playing tough gangsters in 1930s crime films.

After a humble upbringing in New York City 's Lower East Side , he made his name playing ruthless gangster Tom Powers in the 1931 film “The Public Enemy”.

Several popular gangster movies followed, but he always regarded himself as a ‘song-and-dance’ man: he won an Oscar for Best Actor for his role in the musical “Yankee Doodle Dandy” (1942).

Twenty years after he retired from acting in 1961, he made a single, final return to the screen in “Ragtime” (1981) on the advice of his doctors.

James Francis Cagney Jr was born on Manhattan ’s Lower East Side on 17 July 1899. His family were poor: he was the second of five children and his father, an Irish-American bartender and amateur boxer, died in the 1918 Spanish ‘flu epidemic.

To support his family, Cagney Jr took odd jobs including working as an office boy and as a library book stacker. He briefly attended Columbia University but dropped out for financial reasons and returned to odd-jobbing.

He got a part as a female impersonator in a Yorkville revue despite being unable to sing or dance. Desperate for money, he auditioned when he learnt that he would be paid $35 per week at a time when he was earning $16 per week wrapping packages.

His big break came in 1929 when he played a cowardly killer in the Broadway show “Penny Arcade”. He made his film debut when the play was made into a Hollywood film – “Sinner’s Holiday ” (1930).

He demonstrated a powerful talent for improvising during a sensational scene in the blockbuster film “The Public Enemy” (1931) when he slammed a grapefruit into Mae Clarke’s face – the script asked for a slap with an omelette. This film made him a star.

A versatile actor, he played roles as varied as Bottom in the 1935 film version of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and a racing car driver in “The Crowd Roars” (1932).

He continued to be typecast as a jaded tough guy but shook this off in 1942 to win an Oscar for his part as a showman in the musical “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”

In 1962, he retired from acting after “Short Cut to Hell” (1957) - his only attempt at directing - failed to be commercially successful. When his health deteriorated in 1979, he made a single, acclaimed comeback in “Ragtime” (1981). He died five years later.

A self-taught observer of other’s idiosyncrasies, Mr Cagney brought a raw emotional intensity to his roles. Performer Will Rogers remarked of him, ''Every time I see him work, it looks to me like a bunch of firecrackers going off all at once.''

Privately, he was a self-effacing, reflective family man who rarely drank alcohol and enjoyed the company of a small group of friends. He retired to an 800-acre farm in upstate New York .

He was admired by colleagues and the public long after his retirement and refused numerous offers of work from major directors . In March 1974, the American Film Institute presented him with a Life Achievement Award.

The American Film Institute voted his line (“Made it, Ma! Top of the world!”) in the 1949 film, “White Heat”, the 18th greatest movie quote.