Warner Oland
Born
October 3, 1879
Died
August 6, 1938 (58 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
Nyby, Västerbottens län, Sweden
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.
Known For
Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
Charlie Chan (archive footage)
2019
In Search of Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan (archive footage)
2006
Complicated Women
Self (archive footage)
2003
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
Self (archive footage)
1999
The Horror Show
(archive footage)
1979
Days of Thrills and Laughter
Self (archive footage)
1961
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
Self (archive footage)
1942
Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo
Charlie Chan
1937
Charlie Chan on Broadway
Charlie Chan
1937
Charlie Chan at the Olympics
Charlie Chan
1937
Charlie Chan at the Opera
Charlie Chan
1936
Charlie Chan at the Race Track
Charlie Chan
1936
Charlie Chan at the Circus
Charlie Chan
1936
Charlie Chan's Secret
Charlie Chan
1936
Charlie Chan in Shanghai
Charlie Chan
1935
Shanghai
Ambassador Lun Sing
1935
Charlie Chan in Egypt
Charlie Chan
1935
Werewolf of London
Dr. Yogami
1935
Charlie Chan in Paris
Charlie Chan
1935
Movies on Sundays
Charlie Chan (uncredited)
1935
The Painted Veil
General Yu
1934
Charlie Chan in London
Charlie Chan
1934
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
Prince Achmed
1934
Charlie Chan's Courage
Charlie Chan
1934
Mandalay
Nick
1934
As Husbands Go
Hippolitus Lomi
1934
Charlie Chan's Greatest Case
Charlie Chan
1933
Before Dawn
Dr. Paul Cornelius
1933
How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action
Himself
1933
The Son-Daughter
Fen Sha
1932
A Passport to Hell
Baron von Sydow, Police Commandant
1932
Shanghai Express
Mr. Henry Chang
1932
Charlie Chan's Chance
Charlie Chan
1932
Daughter of the Dragon
Fu Manchu
1931
The Big Gamble
Andrew North
1931
The Black Camel
Charlie Chan
1931
Charlie Chan Carries On
Charlie Chan
1931
Dishonored
Colonel von Hindau
1931
The Drums of Jeopardy
Dr. Boris Karlov
1931
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu
Dr. Fu Manchu
1930
Paramount on Parade
Fu Manchu (Murder Will Out)
1930
The Vagabond King
Thibault
1930
Dangerous Paradise
Schomberg
1930
The Mighty
Sterky
1929
The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu
Dr. Fu Manchu
1929
The Studio Murder Mystery
Rupert Borka
1929
Chinatown Nights
"Boston Charley" Wu
1929
The Faker
Hadrian
1929
Dream of Love
The Duke
1928
The Scarlet Lady
Zaneriff
1928
Wheel of Chance
Mosher Turkeltaub
1928
Stand and Deliver
Ghika - the Bandit Leader
1928
Good Time Charley
Good Time Charley Keene
1927
Sailor Izzy Murphy
Perfume Manufacturer
1927
The Jazz Singer
Cantor Rabinowitz
1927
Old San Francisco
Chris Buckwell
1927
When a Man Loves
André Lescaut
1927
What Happened To Father
W. Bradberry, Father
1927
A Million Bid
Geoffrey Marsh
1927
Man of the Forest
Clint Beasley
1926
Tell It to the Marines
Chinese Bandit Chief
1926
Twinkletoes
Roseleaf
1926
The Marriage Clause
Max Ravenal
1926
Don Juan
Cesare Borgia
1926
Infatuation
Osman Pasha
1925
The Winding Stair
Petras
1925
Flower of Night
Luke Rand
1925
Don Q Son of Zorro
The Archduke Paul
1925
Riders of the Purple Sage
Lew Walters aka Judge Dyer
1925
Curlytop
Shanghai Dan
1924
So This Is Marriage?
King David
1924
The Fighting American
Fu Shing
1924
His Children's Children
Dr. Dahl
1923
The Pride of Palomar
Okada
1922
East Is West
Charley Yong
1922
Hurricane Hutch
Clifton Marlow
1921
The Phantom Foe
Uncle Leo Sealkirk
1920
The Third Eye
Curtis Steele / Malcolm Graw
1920
The Witness for the Defense
Captain Ballantyne
1919
The Avalanche
Nick Delano
1919
The Twin Pawns
John Bent
1919
The Lightning Raider
Wu Fang
1919
The Yellow Ticket
Baron Andrey
1918
The Naulahka
Maharajah
1918
The Fatal Ring
Richard Carslake
1917
Patria
Baron Huroki
1917
The Rise of Susan
Sinclair La Salle
1916
Beatrice Fairfax
Detective
1916
The Eternal Question
Pierre Felix
1916
The Eternal Sapho
H. Coudal
1916
The Reapers
James Shaw
1916
Destruction
Mr. Deleveau
1915
Sin
Pietro
1915
The Romance of Elaine
1915
Pilgrim's Progress
John Bunyon
1912