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