“The only advice that did me any good”: the acting trick Richard Harris learned from James Cagney
No actor should be too proud to ignore advice being imparted by their peers, especially when that peer was a legend like James Cagney, lauded by many of his contemporaries as one of the greatest talents to ever grace the silver screen.
Being the single biggest inspiration for someone like Clint Eastwood is one of just many testaments to Cagney’s abilities, with the four-time Academy Award-winning actor and filmmaker and all-around icon of cinema saluting the ‘Golden Age’ great as his idol.
The increasingly curmudgeonly Orson Welles celebrated him as “maybe the greatest actor who ever appeared in front of a camera,” too, which was arguably even higher praise when the Citizen Kane orchestrator was a lot more likely to issue a scathing putdown than a pat on the back.
Even though he was an infamous hell-raiser and hard-drinking hothead, Richard Harris welcomed advice. On the other hand, he wasn’t always guaranteed to take it on board, but Cagney was a special case. In fact, by his own admission, those were the only words of wisdom the Irishman ever used to his advantage.
In what was only his second feature film credit, Harris was the 17th-billed name in the cast for the 1959 drama Shake Hands with the Devil, which starred Cagney in the lead role. The veteran only made three more movie appearances after that before his self-imposed exile from celluloid, but he was happy to pass on his knowledge to the next generation.
“The only advice I ever got on acting that did me any good was a long time ago when I was just starting out, and I made a picture in Ireland with James Cagney,” Harris told Roger Ebert. “It was called Shake Hands with the Devil. I’ll never forget, one day, Cagney summoned me to his suite at the Shelbourne Hotel for a couple of drinks.”
He was still in his late 20s at the time, but perhaps Harris’ reputation already preceded him if Cagney decided that he, out of all fellow cast members, would make the most suitable boozing buddy. Either way, it was an invitation he’d be foolish to decline, and it came with the bonus of advice he’d carry with him for the remainder of his career.
“And then he said, ‘Kid, you’ll do OK. You’ll make it. But remember this; when you’re in a movie, and they want you to go from one place to another, walk in a straight line,” Harris recalled. “A straight line. That’s how they’ll know you’re the star. Too many of these goddamned English actors are walking in curves all the time!”‘
Now privy to the secrets of how Cagney would dominate the frame, Harris took it on board and decided that whenever his English associates would opt for a curvature in their walks, he’d stay on the straight and narrow as instructed to make sure he came across as a star. Simple but undeniably effective, looking at their respective careers.
