Warner Oland

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  • group Other Names:
    Johan Verner Ölund

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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.

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  • wc Gender: Male
  • calendar_month Birth Date: 1879-10-03
  • event Death Date 1938-08-06
  • school Known for: Acting
  • star Popularity: 4.4
  • info Birth Place Nyby, Västerbottens län, Sweden
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smart_display Movies and TV shows by Warner Oland

6.9

Shanghai Express

1932-02-12

6.2

The Jazz Singer

1929-01-01

0

The Romance of Elaine

1915-06-14

0

The Winding Stair

1925-10-25

6.7

Charlie Chan at the Olympics

1937-05-21

6.2

Charlie Chan at the Circus

1936-03-27

6.8

Charlie Chan's Secret

1936-01-10

7

Charlie Chan in Egypt

1935-06-04

7.2

Charlie Chan at the Race Track

1936-08-07

6.6

Charlie Chan in Paris

1935-01-21

7

Charlie Chan in London

1934-09-12

6.6

Charlie Chan in Shanghai

1935-10-11

6

The Horror Show

1979-02-06

6

Werewolf of London

1935-05-13

0

Man of the Forest

1926-12-27

6.7

Charlie Chan at the Opera

1936-12-04

0

The Naulahka

1918-02-14

6

The Big Gamble

1931-09-04

6.1

The Black Camel

1931-06-21

6.5

Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo

1937-12-17

7.1

Charlie Chan on Broadway

1937-09-22

0

As Husbands Go

1934-01-27

6.6

The Painted Veil

1934-11-23

6.8

Dishonored

1931-04-04

0

Sailor Izzy Murphy

1927-10-08

5.2

Daughter of the Dragon

1931-09-05

6.6

Don Juan

1926-08-06

6.4

When a Man Loves

1927-08-21

6.6

Don Q Son of Zorro

1925-06-15

5.3

The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu

1929-08-10

5.3

The Drums of Jeopardy

1931-03-01

5.6

Before Dawn

1933-08-04

7

Shanghai

1935-07-19

5.8

Stand and Deliver

1928-02-18

4

The Studio Murder Mystery

1929-06-01

5.4

Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back

1934-08-15

6

Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood

2019-10-13

5.1

The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu

1930-05-02

7

The Son-Daughter

1932-12-23

0

The Avalanche

1919-06-29

0

The Reapers

1916-04-03

0

Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)

1942-01-01

4

Dangerous Paradise

1930-02-13

0

Pilgrim's Progress

1912-10-08

0

Wheel of Chance

1928-06-17

5.9

Mandalay

1934-02-10

8

Charlie Chan's Courage

1934-07-06

6.5

Charlie Chan's Chance

1932-01-24

0

The Fatal Ring

1917-07-07

0

The Lightning Raider

1919-01-02

7

In Search of Charlie Chan

2006-06-20

5.3

A Passport to Hell

1932-08-25

6.3

Tell It to the Marines

1926-12-23

0

The Faker

1929-01-02

5.8

Old San Francisco

1927-09-04

0

Movies on Sundays

1935-01-01

7

Dream of Love

1928-12-01

0

Good Time Charley

1927-11-05

0

The Marriage Clause

1926-09-12

4.2

Chinatown Nights

1929-03-29

5.7

Riders of the Purple Sage

1925-03-15

0

Curlytop

1924-12-28

6

The Vagabond King

1930-02-17

6.5

Patria

1917-01-14

0

The Rise of Susan

1916-12-18

0

The Eternal Sapho

1916-05-06

0

The Scarlet Lady

1928-08-01

5.5

Days of Thrills and Laughter

1961-03-21

0

Flower of Night

1925-10-17

7

Twinkletoes

1926-11-28

6

Charlie Chan's Greatest Case

1933-09-14

0

A Million Bid

1927-05-27

5

The Mighty

1929-11-16

6.4

Paramount on Parade

1930-04-22

0

How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action

1933-06-23

5

Beatrice Fairfax

1916-08-07

5.7

The Twin Pawns

1919-03-18

6.5

Charlie Chan Carries On

1931-04-11

6.7

Complicated Women

2003-05-06

0

What Happened To Father

1927-06-25

0

East Is West

1922-10-15

6

Hurricane Hutch

1921-09-25

0

His Children's Children

1923-11-04

6

The Pride of Palomar

1922-11-26

0

The Eternal Question

1916-07-03

0

Infatuation

1925-12-27

1

Destruction

1915-12-26

5.5

The Fighting American

1924-05-26

0

The Third Eye

1920-05-23

6.3

The Witness for the Defense

1919-09-14

0

Sin

1915-10-03

0

The Yellow Ticket

1918-05-26

0

The Phantom Foe

1920-10-11

0

So This Is Marriage?

1924-11-26

6.9

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

1999-01-01