sentences:  Due to his failing health, his actual involvement in the film was limited.However, Cohan did see the film before he died (from cancer) and he approved of Cagney's portrayal.Because of Cohan's failing health, Warner Brothers moved up the scheduled gala premiere from July 4 to May 29; the original date had been chosen because of the film's patriotic theme and because Cohan really had been born on the Fourth of July, as he wrote in the lyrics of his "Yankee Doodle Dandy."