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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
October 3, 1879
Died
August 6, 1938
Place of Birth
Nyby, Västerbottens län, Sweden
Also Known As
- Johan Verner Ölund
Warner Oland
0.5 Popularity
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
5.7
Charlie Chan (archive footage)
Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
2019
🎬
7.0
Charlie Chan (archive footage)
In Search of Charlie Chan
2006
6.7
Self (archive footage)
Complicated Women
2003
6.9
Self (archive footage)
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
1999
3.8
(archive footage)
The Horror Show
1979
5.5
Self (archive footage)
Days of Thrills and Laughter
1961
0.0
Self (archive footage)
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
1942
6.2
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo
1937
7.0
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan on Broadway
1937
6.7
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan at the Olympics
1937
Credits
Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
as Charlie Chan (archive footage)
2019
5.7
🎬
In Search of Charlie Chan
as Charlie Chan (archive footage)
2006
7.0
Complicated Women
as Self (archive footage)
2003
6.7
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
as Self (archive footage)
1999
6.9
The Horror Show
as (archive footage)
1979
3.8
Days of Thrills and Laughter
as Self (archive footage)
1961
5.5
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
as Self (archive footage)
1942
0.0
Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo
as Charlie Chan
1937
6.2
Charlie Chan on Broadway
as Charlie Chan
1937
7.0
Charlie Chan at the Olympics
as Charlie Chan
1937
6.7
Charlie Chan at the Opera
as Charlie Chan
1936
6.8
Charlie Chan at the Race Track
as Charlie Chan
1936
7.1
Charlie Chan at the Circus
as Charlie Chan
1936
6.2
Charlie Chan's Secret
as Charlie Chan
1936
6.9
Charlie Chan in Shanghai
as Charlie Chan
1935
6.6
Shanghai
as Ambassador Lun Sing
1935
6.5
Charlie Chan in Egypt
as Charlie Chan
1935
6.8
Werewolf of London
as Dr. Yogami
1935
6.0
Charlie Chan in Paris
as Charlie Chan
1935
6.5
🎬
Movies on Sundays
as Charlie Chan (uncredited)
1935
0.0
The Painted Veil
as General Yu
1934
6.4
Charlie Chan in London
as Charlie Chan
1934
6.8
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
as Prince Achmed
1934
5.3
Charlie Chan's Courage
as Charlie Chan
1934
8.0
Mandalay
as Nick
1934
5.6
As Husbands Go
as Hippolitus Lomi
1934
0.0
Charlie Chan's Greatest Case
as Charlie Chan
1933
6.0
Before Dawn
as Dr. Paul Cornelius
1933
5.6
🎬
How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action
as Himself
1933
0.0
The Son-Daughter
as Fen Sha
1932
7.0
A Passport to Hell
as Baron von Sydow, Police Commandant
1932
4.7
Shanghai Express
as Mr. Henry Chang
1932
6.9
Charlie Chan's Chance
as Charlie Chan
1932
6.5
Daughter of the Dragon
as Fu Manchu
1931
5.1
The Big Gamble
as Andrew North
1931
6.0
The Black Camel
as Charlie Chan
1931
6.1
Charlie Chan Carries On
as Charlie Chan
1931
6.5
Dishonored
as Colonel von Hindau
1931
6.8
The Drums of Jeopardy
as Dr. Boris Karlov
1931
5.3
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu
as Dr. Fu Manchu
1930
5.3
Paramount on Parade
as Fu Manchu (Murder Will Out)
1930
6.1
The Vagabond King
as Thibault
1930
5.4
Dangerous Paradise
as Schomberg
1930
3.4
The Mighty
as Sterky
1929
5.0
The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu
as Dr. Fu Manchu
1929
5.6
The Studio Murder Mystery
as Rupert Borka
1929
3.9
Chinatown Nights
as "Boston Charley" Wu
1929
4.0
The Faker
as Hadrian
1929
0.0
Dream of Love
as The Duke
1928
7.0
The Scarlet Lady
as Ivan Zaneriff
1928
7.0
Wheel of Chance
as Mosher Turkeltaub
1928
0.0
Stand and Deliver
as Ghika - the Bandit Leader
1928
5.8
Good Time Charley
as Good Time Charley Keene
1927
0.0
Sailor Izzy Murphy
as Perfume Manufacturer
1927
0.0
The Jazz Singer
as Cantor Rabinowitz
1927
6.1
Old San Francisco
as Chris Buckwell
1927
5.3
When a Man Loves
as André Lescaut
1927
5.9
What Happened To Father
as W. Bradberry, Father
1927
0.0
A Million Bid
as Geoffrey Marsh
1927
0.0
Man of the Forest
as Clint Beasley
1926
0.0
Tell It to the Marines
as Chinese Bandit Chief
1926
6.4
Twinkletoes
as Roseleaf
1926
6.7
The Marriage Clause
as Max Ravenal
1926
0.0
The Mystery Club
as Eli Sinsabaugh
1926
0.0
Don Juan
as Cesare Borgia
1926
6.4
Infatuation
as Osman Pasha
1925
0.0
The Winding Stair
as Petras
1925
0.0
🎬
Flower of Night
as Luke Rand
1925
0.0
Don Q Son of Zorro
as The Archduke Paul
1925
6.6
Riders of the Purple Sage
as Lew Walters aka Judge Dyer
1925
5.7
Curlytop
as Shanghai Dan
1924
0.0
So This Is Marriage?
as King David
1924
0.0
The Fighting American
as Fu Shing
1924
5.7
His Children's Children
as Dr. Dahl
1923
0.0
The Pride of Palomar
as Okada
1922
6.0
East Is West
as Charley Yong
1922
0.0
Hurricane Hutch
as Clifton Marlow
1921
6.0
The Yellow Arm
as Joel Bain
1921
0.0
The Phantom Foe
as Uncle Leo Sealkirk
1920
0.0
The Third Eye
as Curtis Steele / Malcolm Graw
1920
0.0
The Witness for the Defense
as Captain Ballantyne
1919
6.3
The Avalanche
as Nick Delano
1919
0.0
The Twin Pawns
as John Bent
1919
5.7
Mandarin's Gold
as Li Hsun
1919
0.0
The Lightning Raider
as Wu Fang
1919
0.0
The Yellow Ticket
as Baron Andrey
1918
0.0
The Naulahka
as Maharajah
1918
0.0
The Cigarette Girl
as Mr. Wilson
1917
0.0
The Fatal Ring
as Richard Carslake
1917
0.0
Patria
as Baron Huroki
1917
6.5
The Rise of Susan
as Sinclair La Salle
1916
0.0
Beatrice Fairfax
as Detective
1916
5.0
The Eternal Question
as Pierre Felix
1916
0.0
The Eternal Sapho
as H. Coudal
1916
0.0
The Reapers
as James Shaw
1916
0.0
Destruction
as Mr. Deleveau
1915
1.0
Sin
as Pietro
1915
0.0
The Romance of Elaine
1915
0.0
Pilgrim's Progress
as John Bunyon
1912
0.0