NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- Actress Jeanne Cagney Morrison, who appeared in 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' and 'Man of a Thousand Faces' with her older brother, James Cagney, has died folowing a long bout with lung cancer. She was 65.
A family spokesman said Morrison died Friday at her home in Newport Beach, where she had been lived the last 13 years, mostly in retirement. Services were scheduled today at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Newport Beach.
During her 35-year career, Morrison -- using her maiden name - appeared in radio, television and films, including four movies in which she teamed with her famous brother. The most notable was 'Yankee Doodle Dandy,' the 1942 film in which he played composer George M. Cohan's, and she played his sister, Josie. Brother William played a producer.
Morrison was born in New York City on March 25, 1919. As the only girl in a family with four boys, she learned early in life to hold her own. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Hunter College.
After considering a career in medicine -- her brothers Edward and Harry became physicians -- she decided on a career in show business. Her brother, James, 20 years older, had already achieved stardom and another brother, Bill, was a movie producer.
But she arrived in Hollywood with the understanding that her show business brothers would not interfere in or promote her career, and enrolled at the Pasadena Community Playhouse, where she studied a few months before she got a chance to appear with her brother, James, on Cecil B. deMille's radio program.
Her motion picture carrer began at Paramount Studios where she did four movies before deciding that she needed more stage experience. She went to San Francisco and did two plays, including 'Tonight at 8:30' with Joan Fontaine.
Morrison was a fixture on the long-running TV show 'Queen for a Day,' appearing for 12 years as a hostess and fashion commentator.
Her other movies included 'All Women Have Secrets,' 'Queen of the Mob,' Golden Gloves' and 'Rhythm On the River.' Her last film was 'Town Tamer,' released in 1965.
In 1953, she married Jack Morrison, a theater arts instructor at UCLA who she met while taking a classes. They were divorced in 1970.
James Cagney was not expected to attend the services. He was recuperating from a recent hospitalization at his farm in Maine.
