Cagney

John Wayne is old school, but I remember reading someone asking Lee Strasberg who were the actors he admired, and he said, “John Wayne, Jimmy Cagney.”

Jimmy Cagney’s old schmaltz vehicle "Yankee Doodle Dandy" looks restrained by comparison.

Higher ranks were off limits to women at the time, but those restrictions were later lifted, and York became part of a female detective team that inspired the TV series “Cagney & Lacey.”

Mr. Clooney added, “We’ve stood on the shoulders of the likes of Bette Davis and Jimmy Cagney, and it’s time for our generation to give something back.”

Cary Grant, Fred Astaire and Clark Gable wore it, and James Cagney turned it into de rigueur gangster wear.