He eventually turned his attention to period films with Ragtime, followed by Amadeus in 1984. Ragtime was originally slated to be directed by Robert Altman but executive producer Dino de Laurentiis later replaced him with Milos Forman, a native Czechoslovakian, who was well known at the time for such contemporary American films as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Hair (1979).
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I asked him how to die in front of the camera. Rollins, playing the lead character Coalhouse Walker, commented, "I was frightened to meet Mr. Yet, some of Cagney's co-stars were intimidated by the prospect of working with the legendary actor. The prospect of working with O'Brien eventually enticed the ailing star, and Cagney embarked for the film set in England by boat, only to be greeted at the dock by hundreds of fans. For his part, Cagney was intrigued by the original novel - he had actually known Evelyn Nesbit in his younger days. However, his doctor encouraged him to accept the role in Ragtime of the hard-edged police commissioner, created specifically for him by director Milos Forman. Playing the small part of a lawyer in Ragtime, O'Brien was elated to be acting with his old friend again, but it took some convincing to lure Cagney to the set.Īlthough O'Brien's old pal had long eschewed the hard-drinking, nightclubbing lifestyle that his acting cronies often enjoyed, undiagnosed diabetes had left Cagney inactive and unhappy.
Their best-known pairing is probably Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), but O'Brien and Cagney's working relationship and personal friendship dates back to Here Comes the Navy (1934), in which Cagney played a street tough who gets into a fistfight with a Naval officer (O'Brien) who later becomes his superior. Even more significant is the casting of Pat O'Brien (it was his final film role), a former contract player for Warner Brothers who co-starred with his pal Jimmy Cagney in several films. Jackson and Fran Drescher also play minor supporting roles and there are some offbeat cameo appearances like author Norman Mailer in the small role of doomed architect Stanford White.Īs for the seasoned veterans, Donald O'Connor, best known as Gene Kelly's sidekick in Singin' in the Rain (1952), appears as Evelyn Nesbit's dance instructor. The huge cast includes Mandy Patinkin, Howard Rollins, Debbie Allen, Jeff Daniels (in his screen debut) and a young Elizabeth McGovern delivering an Oscar-nominated performance as the scandalous Evelyn Nesbit, the girl in the "red-velvet swing." Samuel L. But a closer examination of the cast reveals not only a number of legendary actors at the end of their careers, but another generation just entering the acting profession. Ragtime is perhaps best remembered today as the film that brought James Cagney back to the big screen after a twenty-year absence. In addition to Walker's plight, the narrative also weaves in numerous subplots featuring such historically prominent characters as Stanford White, Evelyn Nesbit, Houdini and Booker T. The plot centers around a ragtime piano player, Coalhouse Walker, who demands justice after his car is damaged in a racially motivated act of vandalism. Doctorow novel, is a complex story involving real and fictitious characters in New York City in the early twentieth century.
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