Tossup

This actor’s character trips players and ignores fouls after stepping in as referee for a game of youth basketball in a movie starring the Dead End (15[1])Kids. After close-ups on the faces of men passing news about a woman’s death (15[1])via a telephone line of whispers, a film transitions (15[1])to wide (15[1])shots of hundreds of men staring in awe at this actor’s improvised agonizing howls. Another film ends with shots of mushroom (15[1])clouds after a shot framing this actor in front of flames at a chemical plant. While drenched in rain, a character played by this actor stammers, “I ain’t so (*) tough” (10[1])in a film that once moved Tony Soprano to tears. (10[1])This actor’s roles include one in which he has a frenzied (-5[1])breakdown while walking to an electric chair, one ending with the line “Made it, Ma! Top of the world!”, (10[1])and one in which he smashes (10[1])a grapefruit (-5[1])into (10[1])his girlfriend’s face. For 10 points, films like The Public Enemy, Angels with Dirty Faces, and White Heat built what actor’s reputation for playing gangsters? ■END■ (10[1])

ANSWER: James Cagney [or James Francis Cagney Jr.; or Jimmy Cagney]
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