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