James Cagney won the Best Actor Oscar for playing George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy.
The 1942 film is a musical biographical drama about George M. Cohan, the prolific American entertainer, songwriter, playwright, producer, and performer often associated with the phrase “the man who owned Broadway.” Cagney portrayed Cohan across different periods of his life, combining acting, singing, dancing, and the energetic stage style that made the character famous.
Cagney’s performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 15th Academy Awards, held in 1943. The film also won Oscars for its music and sound recording. It was nominated in several other categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Supporting Actor for Walter Huston.
The award is sometimes misremembered because Cagney was widely known for gangster roles such as Public Enemy. Yankee Doodle Dandy demonstrated his range beyond crime dramas, especially in musical performance. The film remains one of his signature achievements and was later selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.