Posted on 05/29/2015 7:21:56 AM PDT by Borges
Wally Cassell, a film-noir favorite who played Cotton Valletti, one of Jimmy Cagney’s gang, in the electric 1949 crime thriller White Heat, has died. He was 103.
Cassell died peacefully April 2 at his home in Palm Desert, Calif., his wife, actress, singer and songwriter Marcy McGuire, told The Hollywood Reporter. He was in good health until recently, she noted.
“He was the most wonderful man,” McGuire said. “We never had an argument.”
Mickey Rooney served as the best man at their 1947 wedding, and he gave Cassell — who was born Oswaldo Castellano in Sicily — his more marquee-friendly moniker.
Cassell stood out in such film-noir movies as Cornell Woolrich’s The Guilty (1947); Quicksand (1950), which starred Rooney and Peter Lorre; the crime-doesn’t-pay drama Highway 301 (1950), opposite Steve Cochran; Breakdown (1952), a boxing saga with Ann Richards and Sheldon Leonard; and City That Never Sleeps (1953), starring Gig Young.
Cassell also played a jockey opposite Rooney in National Velvet (1944) and held the rank of private in the war tales Story of G.I. Joe (1945) and John Wayne’s Sands of Iwo Jima (1949).
In his final onscreen appearance, Cassell played L.A. Dodgers front-office executive Buzzie Bavasi in a 1963 episode of The Beverly Hillbillies.
In the Warner Bros. classic White Heat, Cagney’s ruthless killer Cody Jarrett orders Cassell’s character to polish off fellow gangster Zuckie Hommell (Ford Rainey), who is badly scalded during a train robbery and left behind. Cotton, though, can’t bring himself to do it, and evidence left at the scene links the bad guys to the crime.
In addition to National Velvet, Cassell worked with his pal Rooney in such films as Thousands Cheer (1943) and Killer McCoy (1947).
Cassell started his movie career with a contract with MGM and made his debut in Fingers at the Window (1942), starring Basil Rathbone.
He was rather busy after that, seen in small roles in Presenting Lily Mars (1943), Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944), Anchors Aweigh (1945), The Thin Man Goes Home (1945), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) and Homecoming (1948).
McGuire, a perky RKO contract player from Iowa, starred in such films as Higher and Higher (1943), Frank Sinatra’s first acting effort, and Sing Your Way Home (1945).
She and Cassell returned the favor as Rooney’s maid of honor and best man at his 1949 wedding to actress Martha Vickers, the third of Rooney’s eight wives.
“Mickey couldn’t understand how we were married so long,” the red-haired McGuire recalled. “He said, ‘It must be the red hair!’”
In addition to his wife, Cassell’s survivors include children Michael and Cindy, grandsons Ian, Chris and Austin and great-granddaughter Annabella.
Never seen “White Heat”.
“Top of the world, indeed!” Great graphic.
Actually, “Top of the world, Ma” would also work for Obama and Stanley Ann.
He is so evil and over the top, but in a good way.
I love Cagney but not in this one. He didn. Have the human edge like the other movies.
R.I.P
"Ma" would work for "Ma" Jarrett (what a coincidence!) even better; that's the parallel mother fetish. But I figured "Pop" would be best, considering the psychological grooming by Pop Davis and the nihilistic ending.
The mark of a great actor is the ability to do different personalities and make them believable. Cagney could do it...so could Bogart. Bette Davis was another one. Some people are just film stars, and some are actors.
I always see “White Heat” on Top Gangster Movie Lists but it never comes on HBO or my other movie channels.
I loved “White Heat”. Prison scene where he asks how Ma is doing is a classic.
Saw him in a couple episodes of THE UNTOUCHABLES.
Great movie.
FMCDH(BITS)
Excellent!
Learned to love that series because of ME-TV.
how dare you? He was never a coward. Lol. He did it for the kids. He was too tough to start crying at the last minute. He didn’t care about dying. He got so mad at the priest.when the priest asked him. forgive me for my rant but it would break my heart to think Jimmy Cagney was a coward in one of his movies.and that one was the best of all. Although in Public Enemy he was a pretty bad dude. did you ever see each dawn I die. I think that’s the name of it
To this day, I can't decide "coward" or "hero".
I kind of like it that way.
FMCDH(BITS)
the first time I saw it I was mad he did it. I was young and it killed me to see Cagney begging. I understood later on. But it is up to interpretation.
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