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.
Filmografie · 95
The Jazz Singer
1927 · Cantor Rabinowitz
Werewolf of London
1935 · Dr. Yogami
Shanghai Express
1932 · Mr. Henry Chang
Dishonored
1931 · Colonel von Hindau
The Horror Show
1979 · (archive footage)
Before Dawn
1933 · Dr. Paul Cornelius
The Fighting American
1924 · Fu Shing
The Painted Veil
1934 · General Yu
Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
2019 · Charlie Chan (archive...
Paramount on Parade
1930 · Fu Manchu (Murder Will...
The Reapers
1916 · James Shaw
Hurricane Hutch
1921 · Clifton Marlow
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
1999 · Self (archive footage)
Infatuation
1925 · Osman Pasha
Don Juan
1926 · Cesare Borgia
Charlie Chan in Egypt
1935 · Charlie Chan
Complicated Women
2003 · Self (archive footage)
Sin
1915 · Pietro
Charlie Chan in Paris
1935 · Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan in Shanghai
1935 · Charlie Chan
Destruction
1915 · Mr. Deleveau
When a Man Loves
1927 · André Lescaut
Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo
1937 · Charlie Chan
Dangerous Paradise
1930 · Schomberg
The Vagabond King
1930 · Thibault
The Big Gamble
1931 · Andrew North
So This Is Marriage?
1924 · King David
Daughter of the Dragon
1931 · Fu Manchu
Charlie Chan's Secret
1936 · Charlie Chan
Don Q Son of Zorro
1925 · The Archduke Paul
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
1942 · Self (archive footage)
The Mystery Club
1926 · Eli Sinsabaugh
The Yellow Arm
1921 · Joel Bain
Charlie Chan's Courage
1934 · Charlie Chan
The Black Camel
1931 · Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan on Broadway
1937 · Charlie Chan
Sailor Izzy Murphy
1927 · Perfume Manufacturer
The Son-Daughter
1932 · Fen Sha
The Twin Pawns
1919 · John Bent
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu
1930 · Dr. Fu Manchu
Charlie Chan at the Opera
1936 · Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan's Greatest Case
1933 · Charlie Chan
The Cigarette Girl
1917 · Mr. Wilson
Mandarin's Gold
1919 · Li Hsun
Mandalay
1934 · Nick
Days of Thrills and Laughter
1961 · Self (archive footage)
Charlie Chan in London
1934 · Charlie Chan
Dream of Love
1928 · The Duke
Charlie Chan at the Olympics
1937 · Charlie Chan
The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu
1929 · Dr. Fu Manchu
Good Time Charley
1927 · Good Time Charley Keen...
Stand and Deliver
1928 · Ghika - the Bandit Lea...
The Phantom Foe
1920 · Uncle Leo Sealkirk
The Drums of Jeopardy
1931 · Dr. Boris Karlov
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
1934 · Prince Achmed
Pilgrim's Progress
1912 · John Bunyon
The Third Eye
1920 · Curtis Steele / Malcol...
Charlie Chan at the Race Track
1936 · Charlie Chan
A Million Bid
1927 · Geoffrey Marsh
Wheel of Chance
1928 · Mosher Turkeltaub
The Scarlet Lady
1928 · Ivan Zaneriff
Charlie Chan at the Circus
1936 · Charlie Chan
The Marriage Clause
1926 · Max Ravenal
The Avalanche
1919 · Nick Delano
Shanghai
1935 · Ambassador Lun Sing
Old San Francisco
1927 · Chris Buckwell
Curlytop
1924 · Shanghai Dan
Chinatown Nights
1929 · "Boston Charley" Wu
The Romance of Elaine
1915
East Is West
1922 · Charley Yong
The Lightning Raider
1919 · Wu Fang
The Mighty
1929 · Sterky
The Pride of Palomar
1922 · Okada
Patria
1917 · Baron Huroki
Riders of the Purple Sage
1925 · Lew Walters aka Judge...
His Children's Children
1923 · Dr. Dahl
Tell It to the Marines
1926 · Chinese Bandit Chief
As Husbands Go
1934 · Hippolitus Lomi
The Faker
1929 · Hadrian
Charlie Chan Carries On
1931 · Charlie Chan
The Naulahka
1918 · Maharajah
A Passport to Hell
1932 · Baron von Sydow, Polic...
Twinkletoes
1926 · Roseleaf
Charlie Chan's Chance
1932 · Charlie Chan
The Winding Stair
1925 · Petras
What Happened To Father
1927 · W. Bradberry, Father
The Witness for the Defense
1919 · Captain Ballantyne
The Studio Murder Mystery
1929 · Rupert Borka
Man of the Forest
1926 · Clint Beasley
The Yellow Ticket
1918 · Baron Andrey
The Eternal Question
1916 · Pierre Felix
Beatrice Fairfax
1916 · Detective
The Fatal Ring
1917 · Richard Carslake
The Eternal Sapho
1916 · H. Coudal
The Rise of Susan
1916 · Sinclair La Salle