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person_profile-Warner Oland

Warner Oland Died at age: 58

Actor | Producer

Fullname:

Warner Oland

Date of Birth:

Oct 03, 1879

Country of birth:

Sweden

Died:

Aug 06, 1938

Biography of

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.

Photos of

Warner Oland

Photos ( 4 Photos

Filmography of

Warner Oland

Found 88 Movies in total

... 2019

Complicated Women

Self (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 2003

The Horror Show

(archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1979

Days of Thrills and Laughter

archive footage ( Actor )

... 1961

Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo

Charlie Chan ( Actor )

... 1937

Charlie Chan on Broadway

Charlie Chan ( Actor )

... 1937

Charlie Chan at the Olympics

Charlie Chan ( Actor )

... 1937

Charlie Chan at the Opera

Charlie Chan ( Actor )

... 1936

Charlie Chan at the Race Track

Charlie Chan ( Actor )

... 1936

Charlie Chan at the Circus

Charlie Chan ( Actor )

... 1936

Charlie Chan's Secret

Charlie Chan ( Actor )

... 1936

Charlie Chan in Shanghai

Charlie Chan ( Actor )

... 1935

Shanghai

Ambassador Lun Sing ( Actor )

... 1935

Charlie Chan in Egypt

Charlie Chan ( Actor )

... 1935

Werewolf of London

Dr. Yogami ( Actor )

... 1935

Charlie Chan in Paris

Charlie Chan ( Actor )

... 1935

The Painted Veil

General Yu ( Actor )

... 1934

Charlie Chan in London

Charlie Chan ( Actor )

... 1934

Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back

Prince Achmed ( Actor )

... 1934

Charlie Chan's Courage

Charlie Chan ( Actor )

... 1934

Mandalay

Nick ( Actor )

... 1934

As Husbands Go

Hippolitus Lomi ( Actor )

... 1934

Charlie Chan's Greatest Case

Charlie Chan ( Actor )

... 1933

Before Dawn

Dr. Paul Cornelius ( Actor )

... 1933

The Son-Daughter

Fen Sha ( Actor )

... 1932

A Passport to Hell

Baron von Sydow, Police Commandant ( Actor )

... 1932

Shanghai Express

Mr. Henry Chang ( Actor )

... 1932

Charlie Chan's Chance

Charlie Chan ( Actor )

... 1932

Daughter of the Dragon

Fu Manchu ( Actor )

... 1931

The Big Gamble

Andrew North ( Actor )

... 1931

The Black Camel

Charlie Chan ( Actor )

... 1931

Charlie Chan Carries On

Charlie Chan ( Actor )

... 1931

Dishonored

Colonel von Hindau ( Actor )

... 1931

The Drums of Jeopardy

Dr. Boris Karlov ( Actor )

... 1931

The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu

Dr. Fu Manchu ( Actor )

... 1930

Paramount on Parade

Fu Manchu (Murder Will Out) ( Actor )

... 1930

The Vagabond King

Thibault ( Actor )

... 1930

Dangerous Paradise

Schomberg ( Actor )

... 1930

The Mighty

Sterky ( Actor )

... 1929

The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu

Dr. Fu Manchu ( Actor )

... 1929

The Studio Murder Mystery

Rupert Borka ( Actor )

... 1929

Chinatown Nights

Boston Charley ( Actor )

... 1929

The Faker

Hadrian ( Actor )

... 1929

Dream of Love

The Duke ( Actor )

... 1928

The Scarlet Lady

Zaneriff ( Actor )

... 1928

Wheel of Chance

Mosher Turkeltaub ( Actor )

... 1928

Stand and Deliver

Ghika - the Bandit Leader ( Actor )

... 1928

Good Time Charley

Good Time Charley Keene ( Actor )

... 1927

Sailor Izzy Murphy

Perfume Manufacturer ( Actor )

... 1927

The Jazz Singer

Cantor Rabinowitz ( Actor )

... 1927

Old San Francisco

Chris Buckwell ( Actor )

... 1927

When a Man Loves

André Lescaut ( Actor )

... 1927

What Happened To Father

W. Bradberry, Father ( Actor )

... 1927

A Million Bid

Geoffrey Marsh ( Actor )

... 1927

Man of the Forest

Clint Beasley ( Actor )

... 1926

Tell It to the Marines

Chinese Bandit Chief ( Actor )

... 1926

Twinkletoes

Roseleaf ( Actor )

... 1926

Don Juan

Cesare Borgia ( Actor )

... 1926

Infatuation

Osman Pasha ( Actor )

... 1925

The Winding Stair

Petras ( Actor )

... 1925

Don Q Son of Zorro

The Archduke Paul ( Actor )

... 1925

Riders of the Purple Sage

Lew Walters aka Judge Dyer ( Actor )

... 1925

Curlytop

Shanghai Dan ( Actor )

... 1924

So This Is Marriage?

King David ( Actor )

... 1924

The Fighting American

Fu Shing ( Actor )

... 1924

His Children's Children

Dr. Dahl ( Actor )

... 1923

The Pride of Palomar

Okada ( Actor )

... 1922

East Is West

Charley Yong ( Actor )

... 1922

Hurricane Hutch

Clifton Marlow ( Actor )

... 1921

The Phantom Foe

Uncle Leo Sealkirk ( Actor )

... 1920

The Third Eye

Curtis Steele / Malcolm Graw ( Actor )

... 1920

The Witness for the Defense

Captain Ballantyne ( Actor )

... 1919

The Avalanche

Nick Delano ( Actor )

... 1919

The Twin Pawns

John Bent ( Actor )

... 1919

The Lightning Raider

Wu Fang ( Actor )

... 1919

The Yellow Ticket

Baron Andrey ( Actor )

... 1918

The Naulahka

Maharajah ( Actor )

... 1918

The Fatal Ring

Richard Carslake ( Actor )

... 1917

Patria

Baron Huroki ( Actor )

... 1917

The Rise of Susan

Sinclair La Salle ( Actor )

... 1916

Beatrice Fairfax

Detective ( Actor )

... 1916

The Eternal Question

Pierre Felix ( Actor )

... 1916

The Eternal Sapho

H. Coudal ( Actor )

... 1916

The Reapers

James Shaw ( Actor )

... 1916

Destruction

Mr. Deleveau ( Actor )

... 1915

Sin

Pietro ( Actor )

... 1915

... 1915

Pilgrim's Progress

John Bunyon ( Actor )

... 1912