“I have an idea that the Irish possess a built-in don’t-give-a-damn that helps them through all the stress.” — James Cagney

“I have an idea that the Irish possess a built-in don’t-give-a-damn that helps them through all the stress.” — James Cagney

It’s his birthday today. One of my favorite actors. From Who the Hell’s in It: Conversations with Hollywood’s Legendary Actors, by Peter Bogdanovich: He was different from most of the great stars of the golden age in that he often played villains — even late in his career — comically in Mister Roberts, with unsentimental pathos in Love Me or Leave Me, with complicated and disturbing psychopathic ambivalence in White Heat. His essential persona w…