Warner Oland
Biography
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
Mr. Henry Chang
Shanghai Express
Cantor Rabinowitz
The Jazz Singer
The Romance of Elaine
Petras
The Winding Stair
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan at the Olympics
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan at the Circus
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan's Secret
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan at the Race Track
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan in Egypt
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan in London
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan in Paris
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan in Shanghai
(archive footage)
The Horror Show
Dr. Yogami
Werewolf of London
Clint Beasley
Man of the Forest
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan at the Opera
Maharajah
The Naulahka
Andrew North
The Big Gamble
Charlie Chan
The Black Camel
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan on Broadway
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo
Hippolitus Lomi
As Husbands Go
General Yu
The Painted Veil
Colonel von Hindau
Dishonored
Perfume Manufacturer
Sailor Izzy Murphy
Fu Manchu
Daughter of the Dragon
Cesare Borgia
Don Juan
André Lescaut
When a Man Loves
The Archduke Paul
Don Q Son of Zorro
Dr. Fu Manchu
The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu
Dr. Boris Karlov
The Drums of Jeopardy
Dr. Paul Cornelius
Before Dawn
Ambassador Lun Sing
Shanghai
Ghika - the Bandit Leader
Stand and Deliver
Rupert Borka
The Studio Murder Mystery
Prince Achmed
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
Charlie Chan (archive footage)
Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
Dr. Fu Manchu
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu
Fen Sha
The Son-Daughter
Nick Delano
The Avalanche
James Shaw
The Reapers
Self (archive footage)
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
Schomberg
Dangerous Paradise
John Bunyon
Pilgrim's Progress
Mosher Turkeltaub
Wheel of Chance
Nick
Mandalay
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan's Courage
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan's Chance
Richard Carslake
The Fatal Ring
Wu Fang
The Lightning Raider
Charlie Chan (archive footage)
In Search of Charlie Chan
Baron von Sydow, Police Commandant
A Passport to Hell
Chinese Bandit Chief
Tell It to the Marines
Hadrian
The Faker
Chris Buckwell
Old San Francisco
Charlie Chan (uncredited)
Movies on Sundays
The Duke
Dream of Love
Good Time Charley Keene
Good Time Charley
Max Ravenal
The Marriage Clause
"Boston Charley" Wu
Chinatown Nights
Lew Walters aka Judge Dyer
Riders of the Purple Sage
Shanghai Dan
Curlytop
Thibault
The Vagabond King
Baron Huroki
Patria
Sinclair La Salle
The Rise of Susan
H. Coudal
The Eternal Sapho
Ivan Zaneriff
The Scarlet Lady
Self (archive footage)
Days of Thrills and Laughter
Luke Rand
Flower of Night
Roseleaf
Twinkletoes
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan's Greatest Case
Geoffrey Marsh
A Million Bid
Sterky
The Mighty
Fu Manchu (Murder Will Out)
Paramount on Parade
Himself
How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action
Detective
Beatrice Fairfax
John Bent
The Twin Pawns
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan Carries On
Self (archive footage)
Complicated Women
W. Bradberry, Father
What Happened To Father
Charley Yong
East Is West
Clifton Marlow
Hurricane Hutch
Dr. Dahl
His Children's Children
Okada
The Pride of Palomar
Pierre Felix
The Eternal Question
Osman Pasha
Infatuation
Mr. Deleveau
Destruction
Fu Shing
The Fighting American
Curtis Steele / Malcolm Graw
The Third Eye
Captain Ballantyne
The Witness for the Defense
Pietro
Sin
Baron Andrey
The Yellow Ticket
Uncle Leo Sealkirk
The Phantom Foe
King David
So This Is Marriage?
Self (archive footage)
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
95
Gender
Male
Birthday
1879-10-03
Place of Birth
Nyby, Västerbottens län, Sweden
Also Known As
Johan Verner Ölund