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Warner Oland
Born · October 3, 1879
Died · August 6, 1938 (58 years old)
Known For: Acting
Place of Birth: Nyby, Västerbottens län, Sweden
Bio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Warner Oland (born Johan Verner Ölund, October 3, 1879 – August 6, 1938) was a Swedish-American actor most remembered for playing several Chinese and Chinese-American characters: the Honolulu Police detective, Lieutenant Charlie Chan; Dr. Fu Manchu; and Henry Chang in Shanghai Express. His family emigrated to the United States when he was 13. He pursued a film career that would include time on Broadway and dozens of film appearances, including 16 Charlie Chan films. After several years in theater, including appearances on Broadway as Warner Oland, in 1912 he made his silent film debut in Pilgrim's Progress, a film based on the John Bunyan novel. As a result of his training as a Shakespearean actor and his easy adoption of a sinister look, he was much in demand as a villain and in ethnic roles. Over the next 15 years, he appeared in more than 30 films, including a major role in The Jazz Singer (1927), one of the first talkies produced. Oland's normal appearance fit the Hollywood expectation of caricatured Asianness of the time, despite his having no definitively proven Asian cultural background. Oland portrayed a variety of Asian characters in several movies before being offered the leading role in the 1929 film, The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu. It was the first onscreen portrayal of the Fu Manchu character in film. Oland continued to appear onscreen as an Asian, probably more often than any other white actor in the history of cinema. In Old San Francisco, Oland played an Asian unsuccessfully impersonating a white man. Oland was the first actor to play a werewolf in a major Hollywood film, biting the protagonist, played by Henry Hull, in Werewolf of London (1935). Once again, Oland's character was Asian. A box office success, The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu made Oland a star, and during the next two years he portrayed the evil Dr. Fu Manchu in three more films (although the second one was purely a cameo appearance). Firmly locked into such roles, he was cast as Charlie Chan in the international detective mystery film Charlie Chan Carries On (1931) and then in director Josef von Sternberg's 1932 classic film Shanghai Express opposite Marlene Dietrich and Anna May Wong. The enormous worldwide box office success of his Charlie Chan film led to more, with Oland starring in 16 Chan films in total. The series, Jill Lepore later wrote, "kept Fox afloat" during the 1930s, while earning Oland $40,000 per movie. Oland took his role seriously, studying the Chinese language and calligraphy.
Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
Charlie Chan (archive footage)
5.5
2019
In Search of Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan (archive footage)
7.0
2006
Complicated Women
Self (archive footage)
6.7
2003
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
Self (archive footage)
6.9
1999
The Horror Show
(archive footage)
6.0
1979
Days of Thrills and Laughter
Self (archive footage)
5.5
1961
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
Self (archive footage)
0.0
1942
Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo
Charlie Chan
6.5
1937
Charlie Chan on Broadway
Charlie Chan
7.0
1937
Charlie Chan at the Olympics
Charlie Chan
6.7
1937
Charlie Chan at the Opera
Charlie Chan
6.8
1936
Charlie Chan at the Race Track
Charlie Chan
7.1
1936
Charlie Chan at the Circus
Charlie Chan
6.2
1936
Charlie Chan's Secret
Charlie Chan
6.8
1936
Charlie Chan in Shanghai
Charlie Chan
6.6
1935
Shanghai
Ambassador Lun Sing
7.0
1935
Charlie Chan in Egypt
Charlie Chan
6.9
1935
Werewolf of London
Dr. Yogami
6.0
1935
Charlie Chan in Paris
Charlie Chan
6.5
1935
Movies on Sundays
Charlie Chan (uncredited)
0.0
1935
The Painted Veil
General Yu
6.6
1934
Charlie Chan in London
Charlie Chan
6.9
1934
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
Prince Achmed
5.3
1934
Charlie Chan's Courage
Charlie Chan
8.0
1934
Mandalay
Nick
5.9
1934
As Husbands Go
Hippolitus Lomi
0.0
1934
Charlie Chan's Greatest Case
Charlie Chan
6.0
1933
Before Dawn
Dr. Paul Cornelius
5.6
1933
How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action
Himself
0.0
1933
The Son-Daughter
Fen Sha
7.0
1932
A Passport to Hell
Baron von Sydow, Police Commandant
5.3
1932
Shanghai Express
Mr. Henry Chang
6.9
1932
Charlie Chan's Chance
Charlie Chan
6.5
1932
Daughter of the Dragon
Fu Manchu
5.1
1931
The Big Gamble
Andrew North
6.0
1931
The Black Camel
Charlie Chan
6.0
1931
Charlie Chan Carries On
Charlie Chan
6.5
1931
Dishonored
Colonel von Hindau
6.8
1931
The Drums of Jeopardy
Dr. Boris Karlov
5.3
1931
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu
Dr. Fu Manchu
5.0
1930
Paramount on Parade
Fu Manchu (Murder Will Out)
6.1
1930
The Vagabond King
Thibault
5.4
1930
Dangerous Paradise
Schomberg
3.8
1930
The Mighty
Sterky
5.0
1929
The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu
Dr. Fu Manchu
5.3
1929
The Studio Murder Mystery
Rupert Borka
4.1
1929
Chinatown Nights
"Boston Charley" Wu
4.2
1929
The Faker
Hadrian
0.0
1929
Dream of Love
The Duke
7.0
1928
The Scarlet Lady
Zaneriff
6.0
1928
Wheel of Chance
Mosher Turkeltaub
0.0
1928
Stand and Deliver
Ghika - the Bandit Leader
5.8
1928
Good Time Charley
Good Time Charley Keene
0.0
1927
Sailor Izzy Murphy
Perfume Manufacturer
0.0
1927
The Jazz Singer
Cantor Rabinowitz
6.1
1927
Old San Francisco
Chris Buckwell
5.7
1927
When a Man Loves
André Lescaut
6.4
1927
What Happened To Father
W. Bradberry, Father
0.0
1927
A Million Bid
Geoffrey Marsh
0.0
1927
Man of the Forest
Clint Beasley
0.0
1926
Tell It to the Marines
Chinese Bandit Chief
6.4
1926
Twinkletoes
Roseleaf
7.0
1926
The Marriage Clause
Max Ravenal
0.0
1926
Don Juan
Cesare Borgia
6.5
1926
Infatuation
Osman Pasha
0.0
1925
The Winding Stair
Petras
0.0
1925
Flower of Night
Luke Rand
0.0
1925
Don Q Son of Zorro
The Archduke Paul
6.6
1925
Riders of the Purple Sage
Lew Walters aka Judge Dyer
5.7
1925
Curlytop
Shanghai Dan
0.0
1924
So This Is Marriage?
King David
0.0
1924
The Fighting American
Fu Shing
5.7
1924
His Children's Children
Dr. Dahl
0.0
1923
The Pride of Palomar
Okada
6.0
1922
East Is West
Charley Yong
0.0
1922
Hurricane Hutch
Clifton Marlow
6.0
1921
The Phantom Foe
Uncle Leo Sealkirk
0.0
1920
The Third Eye
Curtis Steele / Malcolm Graw
0.0
1920
The Witness for the Defense
Captain Ballantyne
6.3
1919
The Avalanche
Nick Delano
0.0
1919
The Twin Pawns
John Bent
5.7
1919
The Lightning Raider
Wu Fang
0.0
1919
The Yellow Ticket
Baron Andrey
0.0
1918
The Naulahka
Maharajah
0.0
1918
The Fatal Ring
Richard Carslake
0.0
1917
Patria
Baron Huroki
6.5
1917
The Rise of Susan
Sinclair La Salle
0.0
1916
Beatrice Fairfax
Detective
5.0
1916
The Eternal Question
Pierre Felix
0.0
1916
The Eternal Sapho
H. Coudal
0.0
1916
The Reapers
James Shaw
0.0
1916
Destruction
Mr. Deleveau
1.0
1915
Sin
Pietro
0.0
1915
The Romance of Elaine
0.0
1915
Pilgrim's Progress
John Bunyon
0.0
1912