Cast

Warner Oland

Acting

Cast

Warner Oland

Known for

Acting

Born

1879-10-03

From

Nyby, Västerbottens län, Sweden

Died

1938-08-06

Also known as Johan Verner Ölund

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.

Warner Oland

Warner Oland

Biography

Dishonored

The Twin Pawns

Before Dawn

The Reapers

Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo

Charlie Chan in Paris

Charlie Chan's Greatest Case

Destruction

Sin

The Painted Veil

The Jazz Singer

The Son-Daughter

So This Is Marriage?

Werewolf of London

Infatuation

Shanghai Express

The Fighting American

Daughter of the Dragon

Don Juan

Charlie Chan in Shanghai

The Mighty

The Big Gamble

The Third Eye

Pilgrim's Progress

The Mystery Club

Don Q Son of Zorro

Paramount on Parade

Hurricane Hutch

Complicated Women

When a Man Loves

Stand and Deliver

Old San Francisco

The Vagabond King

The Horror Show

Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'

Charlie Chan in Egypt

The Pride of Palomar

Charlie Chan at the Opera

The Studio Murder Mystery

Tell It to the Marines

Beatrice Fairfax

Charlie Chan in London

The Phantom Foe

Good Time Charley

Charlie Chan at the Race Track

The Scarlet Lady

What Happened To Father

Movies on Sundays

Charlie Chan's Secret

The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu

Man of the Forest

Wheel of Chance

Dangerous Paradise

Flower of Night

The Drums of Jeopardy

The Yellow Arm

Sailor Izzy Murphy

Charlie Chan at the Olympics

Riders of the Purple Sage

The Black Camel

Dream of Love

The Witness for the Defense

Mandalay

Charlie Chan's Courage

A Million Bid

Charlie Chan's Chance

Shanghai

Mandarin's Gold

Twinkletoes

The Faker

Charlie Chan Carries On

A Passport to Hell

The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu

Charlie Chan at the Circus

As Husbands Go

Days of Thrills and Laughter

The Fatal Ring