1879-10-03 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.
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Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood | Charlie Chan (archive footage) | 2019-10-13 |
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In Search of Charlie Chan | Charlie Chan (archive footage) | 2006-06-20 |
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Complicated Women | Self (archive footage) | 2003-05-06 |
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Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man' | Self (archive footage) | 1999-01-01 |
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The Horror Show | (archive footage) | 1979-02-06 |
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Days of Thrills and Laughter | Self (archive footage) | 1961-03-21 |
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Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10) | Self (archive footage) | 1942-01-01 |
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Charlie Chan on Broadway | Charlie Chan | 1937-09-22 |
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Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo | Charlie Chan | 1937-12-17 |
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Charlie Chan at the Olympics | Charlie Chan | 1937-05-21 |
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Charlie Chan at the Circus | Charlie Chan | 1936-03-27 |
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Charlie Chan at the Opera | Charlie Chan | 1936-12-04 |
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Charlie Chan's Secret | Charlie Chan | 1936-01-10 |
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Charlie Chan at the Race Track | Charlie Chan | 1936-08-07 |
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Shanghai | Ambassador Lun Sing | 1935-07-19 |
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Movies on Sundays | Charlie Chan (uncredited) | 1935-01-01 |
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Werewolf of London | Dr. Yogami | 1935-05-13 |
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Charlie Chan in Paris | Charlie Chan | 1935-01-21 |
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Charlie Chan in Egypt | Charlie Chan | 1935-06-04 |
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Charlie Chan in Shanghai | Charlie Chan | 1935-10-11 |
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Mandalay | Nick | 1934-02-10 |
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Charlie Chan's Courage | Charlie Chan | 1934-07-06 |
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Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back | Prince Achmed | 1934-08-15 |
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The Painted Veil | General Yu | 1934-11-23 |
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Charlie Chan in London | Charlie Chan | 1934-09-12 |
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As Husbands Go | Hippolitus Lomi | 1934-01-27 |
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Before Dawn | Dr. Paul Cornelius | 1933-08-04 |
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Charlie Chan's Greatest Case | Charlie Chan | 1933-09-14 |
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How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action | Himself | 1933-06-23 |
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Charlie Chan's Chance | Charlie Chan | 1932-01-24 |
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Shanghai Express | Mr. Henry Chang | 1932-02-12 |
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The Son-Daughter | Fen Sha | 1932-12-23 |
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A Passport to Hell | Baron von Sydow, Police Commandant | 1932-08-25 |
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Charlie Chan Carries On | Charlie Chan | 1931-04-11 |
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The Big Gamble | Andrew North | 1931-09-04 |
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The Black Camel | Charlie Chan | 1931-06-21 |
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Daughter of the Dragon | Fu Manchu | 1931-09-24 |
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The Drums of Jeopardy | Dr. Boris Karlov | 1931-03-01 |
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Dishonored | Colonel von Hindau | 1931-04-04 |
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The Vagabond King | Thibault | 1930-02-17 |
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Paramount on Parade | Fu Manchu (Murder Will Out) | 1930-04-22 |
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Dangerous Paradise | Schomberg | 1930-02-13 |
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The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu | Dr. Fu Manchu | 1930-05-02 |
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The Faker | Hadrian | 1929-01-02 |
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Chinatown Nights | "Boston Charley" Wu | 1929-03-29 |
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The Mighty | Sterky | 1929-11-16 |
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The Studio Murder Mystery | Rupert Borka | 1929-06-01 |
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The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu | Dr. Fu Manchu | 1929-08-10 |
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Dream of Love | The Duke | 1928-12-01 |
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The Scarlet Lady | Ivan Zaneriff | 1928-08-01 |
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Stand and Deliver | Ghika - the Bandit Leader | 1928-02-18 |
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Wheel of Chance | Mosher Turkeltaub | 1928-06-17 |
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Good Time Charley | Good Time Charley Keene | 1927-11-05 |
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What Happened To Father | W. Bradberry, Father | 1927-06-25 |
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A Million Bid | Geoffrey Marsh | 1927-05-27 |
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The Jazz Singer | Cantor Rabinowitz | 1927-10-06 |
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When a Man Loves | André Lescaut | 1927-08-21 |
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Sailor Izzy Murphy | Perfume Manufacturer | 1927-10-08 |
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Old San Francisco | Chris Buckwell | 1927-09-04 |
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Twinkletoes | Roseleaf | 1926-11-28 |
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The Marriage Clause | Max Ravenal | 1926-09-12 |
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Tell It to the Marines | Chinese Bandit Chief | 1926-12-23 |
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The Mystery Club | Eli Sinsabaugh | 1926-08-30 |
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Man of the Forest | Clint Beasley | 1926-12-27 |
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Don Juan | Cesare Borgia | 1926-08-06 |
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The Winding Stair | Petras | 1925-10-25 |
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Flower of Night | Luke Rand | 1925-10-17 |
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Don Q Son of Zorro | The Archduke Paul | 1925-06-15 |
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Riders of the Purple Sage | Lew Walters aka Judge Dyer | 1925-03-15 |
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Infatuation | Osman Pasha | 1925-12-27 |
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Curlytop | Shanghai Dan | 1924-12-28 |
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The Fighting American | Fu Shing | 1924-05-26 |
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So This Is Marriage? | King David | 1924-11-26 |
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His Children's Children | Dr. Dahl | 1923-11-04 |
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East Is West | Charley Yong | 1922-10-15 |
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The Pride of Palomar | Okada | 1922-11-26 |
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Hurricane Hutch | Clifton Marlow | 1921-09-25 |
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The Yellow Arm | Joel Bain | 1921-06-19 |
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The Phantom Foe | Uncle Leo Sealkirk | 1920-10-11 |
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The Third Eye | Curtis Steele / Malcolm Graw | 1920-05-23 |
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Mandarin's Gold | Li Hsun | 1919-02-10 |
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The Witness for the Defense | Captain Ballantyne | 1919-09-14 |
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The Lightning Raider | Wu Fang | 1919-01-02 |
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The Twin Pawns | John Bent | 1919-03-18 |
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The Avalanche | Nick Delano | 1919-06-29 |
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The Yellow Ticket | Baron Andrey | 1918-05-26 |
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The Naulahka | Maharajah | 1918-02-14 |
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The Cigarette Girl | Mr. Wilson | 1917-07-08 |
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The Fatal Ring | Richard Carslake | 1917-07-07 |
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Patria | Baron Huroki | 1917-01-14 |
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The Reapers | James Shaw | 1916-04-03 |
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Beatrice Fairfax | Detective | 1916-08-07 |
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The Rise of Susan | Sinclair La Salle | 1916-12-18 |
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The Eternal Sapho | H. Coudal | 1916-05-06 |
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The Eternal Question | Pierre Felix | 1916-07-03 |
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The Romance of Elaine | 1915-06-14 | |
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Sin | Pietro | 1915-10-03 |
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Destruction | Mr. Deleveau | 1915-12-26 |
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Pilgrim's Progress | John Bunyon | 1912-10-08 |
