Cagney Oscar To Be Auctioned Online

Wednesday, September 20th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) â€” For the first time, an Academy Award will be auctioned online â€” the best-actor statuette James Cagney won for playing George M. Cohan in the 1942 movie ``Yankee Doodle Dandy.''

People can put in their bids at the auction gallery Doyle New York or on Ibidlive.tv.

The cable network Pax TV will carry the auction live beginning 6 p.m. Sept. 27.

The 1961 Bentley S2 four-door car which belonged to Cagney, who died in 1986 at 86, paintings, his late wife Frances' 6.2-carat diamond engagement ring and other personal property have been taken to Doyle for the auction. Proceeds go to the Cagney family, with money from the Oscar sale going to the Frances and James Cagney Foundation.

Steven Spielberg bought Clark Gable's 1934 best-actor Oscar for ``It Happened One Night'' for $607,500 in 1996 and Michael Jackson paid $1.54 million for the 1939 best-picture Oscar awarded to ``Gone with the Wind.''

Oscars awarded before 1949 may be bought and sold on the open market. After that date, recipients must sign with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences stating that before any Oscar sale the academy has the right to purchase it for $1.