From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0645941
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q23957
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Filmography (Movies)
Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
Character:Charlie Chan (archive footage)
Release Date:13/10/2019
In Search of Charlie Chan
Character:Charlie Chan (archive footage)
Release Date:20/06/2006
Complicated Women
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:06/05/2003
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:01/01/1999
The Horror Show
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:06/02/1979
Days of Thrills and Laughter
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:21/03/1961
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:01/01/1942
Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo
Character:Charlie Chan
Release Date:17/12/1937
Charlie Chan on Broadway
Character:Charlie Chan
Release Date:22/09/1937
Charlie Chan at the Olympics
Character:Charlie Chan
Release Date:21/05/1937
Charlie Chan at the Opera
Character:Charlie Chan
Release Date:04/12/1936
Charlie Chan at the Race Track
Character:Charlie Chan
Release Date:07/08/1936
Charlie Chan at the Circus
Character:Charlie Chan
Release Date:27/03/1936
Charlie Chan's Secret
Character:Charlie Chan
Release Date:10/01/1936
Charlie Chan in Shanghai
Character:Charlie Chan
Release Date:11/10/1935
Shanghai
Character:Ambassador Lun Sing
Release Date:19/07/1935
Charlie Chan in Egypt
Character:Charlie Chan
Release Date:04/06/1935
Werewolf of London
Character:Dr. Yogami
Release Date:13/05/1935
Charlie Chan in Paris
Character:Charlie Chan
Release Date:21/01/1935
Movies on Sundays
Character:Charlie Chan (uncredited)
Release Date:01/01/1935
The Painted Veil
Character:General Yu
Release Date:23/11/1934
Charlie Chan in London
Character:Charlie Chan
Release Date:12/09/1934
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
Character:Prince Achmed
Release Date:15/08/1934
Charlie Chan's Courage
Character:Charlie Chan
Release Date:06/07/1934
Mandalay
Character:Nick
Release Date:10/02/1934
As Husbands Go
Character:Hippolitus Lomi
Release Date:27/01/1934
Charlie Chan's Greatest Case
Character:Charlie Chan
Release Date:14/09/1933
Before Dawn
Character:Dr. Paul Cornelius
Release Date:04/08/1933
How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action
Character:Himself
Release Date:23/06/1933
The Son-Daughter
Character:Fen Sha
Release Date:23/12/1932
A Passport to Hell
Character:Baron von Sydow, Police Commandant
Release Date:25/08/1932
Shanghai Express
Character:Mr. Henry Chang
Release Date:12/02/1932
Charlie Chan's Chance
Character:Charlie Chan
Release Date:24/01/1932
Daughter of the Dragon
Character:Fu Manchu
Release Date:24/09/1931
The Big Gamble
Character:Andrew North
Release Date:04/09/1931
The Black Camel
Character:Charlie Chan
Release Date:21/06/1931
Charlie Chan Carries On
Character:Charlie Chan
Release Date:11/04/1931
Dishonored
Character:Colonel von Hindau
Release Date:04/04/1931
The Drums of Jeopardy
Character:Dr. Boris Karlov
Release Date:01/03/1931
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu
Character:Dr. Fu Manchu
Release Date:02/05/1930
Paramount on Parade
Character:Fu Manchu (Murder Will Out)
Release Date:22/04/1930
The Vagabond King
Character:Thibault
Release Date:17/02/1930
Dangerous Paradise
Character:Schomberg
Release Date:13/02/1930
The Mighty
Character:Sterky
Release Date:16/11/1929
The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu
Character:Dr. Fu Manchu
Release Date:10/08/1929
The Studio Murder Mystery
Character:Rupert Borka
Release Date:01/06/1929
Chinatown Nights
Character:"Boston Charley" Wu
Release Date:29/03/1929
The Faker
Character:Hadrian
Release Date:02/01/1929
Dream of Love
Character:The Duke
Release Date:01/12/1928
The Scarlet Lady
Character:Ivan Zaneriff
Release Date:01/08/1928
Wheel of Chance
Character:Mosher Turkeltaub
Release Date:17/06/1928
Stand and Deliver
Character:Ghika - the Bandit Leader
Release Date:18/02/1928
Good Time Charley
Character:Good Time Charley Keene
Release Date:05/11/1927
Sailor Izzy Murphy
Character:Perfume Manufacturer
Release Date:08/10/1927
The Jazz Singer
Character:Cantor Rabinowitz
Release Date:06/10/1927
Old San Francisco
Character:Chris Buckwell
Release Date:04/09/1927
When a Man Loves
Character:André Lescaut
Release Date:21/08/1927
What Happened To Father
Character:W. Bradberry, Father
Release Date:25/06/1927
A Million Bid
Character:Geoffrey Marsh
Release Date:27/05/1927
Man of the Forest
Character:Clint Beasley
Release Date:27/12/1926
Tell It to the Marines
Character:Chinese Bandit Chief
Release Date:23/12/1926
Twinkletoes
Character:Roseleaf
Release Date:28/11/1926
The Marriage Clause
Character:Max Ravenal
Release Date:12/09/1926
The Mystery Club
Character:Eli Sinsabaugh
Release Date:30/08/1926
Don Juan
Character:Cesare Borgia
Release Date:06/08/1926
Infatuation
Character:Osman Pasha
Release Date:27/12/1925
The Winding Stair
Character:Petras
Release Date:25/10/1925
Flower of Night
Character:Luke Rand
Release Date:17/10/1925
Don Q Son of Zorro
Character:The Archduke Paul
Release Date:15/06/1925
Riders of the Purple Sage
Character:Lew Walters aka Judge Dyer
Release Date:15/03/1925
Curlytop
Character:Shanghai Dan
Release Date:28/12/1924
So This Is Marriage?
Character:King David
Release Date:26/11/1924
The Fighting American
Character:Fu Shing
Release Date:26/05/1924
His Children's Children
Character:Dr. Dahl
Release Date:04/11/1923
The Pride of Palomar
Character:Okada
Release Date:26/11/1922
East Is West
Character:Charley Yong
Release Date:15/10/1922
Hurricane Hutch
Character:Clifton Marlow
Release Date:25/09/1921
The Yellow Arm
Character:Joel Bain
Release Date:19/06/1921
The Phantom Foe
Character:Uncle Leo Sealkirk
Release Date:11/10/1920
The Third Eye
Character:Curtis Steele / Malcolm Graw
Release Date:23/05/1920
The Witness for the Defense
Character:Captain Ballantyne
Release Date:14/09/1919
The Avalanche
Character:Nick Delano
Release Date:29/06/1919
The Twin Pawns
Character:John Bent
Release Date:18/03/1919
Mandarin's Gold
Character:Li Hsun
Release Date:10/02/1919
The Lightning Raider
Character:Wu Fang
Release Date:02/01/1919
The Yellow Ticket
Character:Baron Andrey
Release Date:26/05/1918
The Naulahka
Character:Maharajah
Release Date:14/02/1918
The Cigarette Girl
Character:Mr. Wilson
Release Date:08/07/1917
The Fatal Ring
Character:Richard Carslake
Release Date:07/07/1917
Patria
Character:Baron Huroki
Release Date:14/01/1917
The Rise of Susan
Character:Sinclair La Salle
Release Date:18/12/1916
Beatrice Fairfax
Character:Detective
Release Date:07/08/1916
The Eternal Question
Character:Pierre Felix
Release Date:03/07/1916
The Eternal Sapho
Character:H. Coudal
Release Date:06/05/1916
The Reapers
Character:James Shaw
Release Date:03/04/1916
Destruction
Character:Mr. Deleveau
Release Date:26/12/1915
Sin
Character:Pietro
Release Date:03/10/1915
The Romance of Elaine
Character:
Release Date:14/06/1915
Pilgrim's Progress
Character:John Bunyon
Release Date:08/10/1912
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