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.
99 movies
Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
2019·5.7
In Search of Charlie Chan
2006·7.0
Complicated Women
2003·6.9
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
1999·7.3
The Horror Show
1979·3.4
Days of Thrills and Laughter
1961·6.0
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
1942·0.0
Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo
1937·6.3
Charlie Chan on Broadway
1937·7.1
Charlie Chan at the Olympics
1937·6.8
Charlie Chan at the Opera
1936·6.8
Charlie Chan at the Race Track
1936·7.1
Charlie Chan at the Circus
1936·6.4
Charlie Chan's Secret
1936·7.0
Charlie Chan in Shanghai
1935·6.7
Shanghai
1935·7.3
Charlie Chan in Egypt
1935·6.9
Werewolf of London
1935·6.1
Charlie Chan in Paris
1935·6.6
Movies on Sundays
1935·0.0
The Painted Veil
1934·6.4
Charlie Chan in London
1934·6.9
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
1934·5.6
Charlie Chan's Courage
1934·8.7
Mandalay
1934·5.8
As Husbands Go
1934·8.0
Charlie Chan's Greatest Case
1933·8.0
Before Dawn
1933·5.7
How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action
1933·10.0
The Son-Daughter
1932·6.5
A Passport to Hell
1932·5.0
Shanghai Express
1932·7.0
Charlie Chan's Chance
1932·7.3
Daughter of the Dragon
1931·5.3
The Big Gamble
1931·6.1
The Black Camel
1931·6.1
Charlie Chan Carries On
1931·7.0
Dishonored
1931·6.9
The Drums of Jeopardy
1931·5.4
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu
1930·5.3
Paramount on Parade
1930·6.1
The Vagabond King
1930·5.9
Dangerous Paradise
1930·4.2
The Mighty
1929·6.0
The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu
1929·6.0
The Studio Murder Mystery
1929·4.7
Chinatown Nights
1929·4.4
The Faker
1929·8.0
Dream of Love
1928·7.3
The Scarlet Lady
1928·7.0
Wheel of Chance
1928·8.0
Stand and Deliver
1928·6.0
Good Time Charley
1927·8.0
Sailor Izzy Murphy
1927·7.0
The Jazz Singer
1927·6.1
Old San Francisco
1927·5.8
When a Man Loves
1927·6.0
What Happened To Father
1927·8.0
A Million Bid
1927·7.0
Man of the Forest
1926·10.0
Tell It to the Marines
1926·6.5
Twinkletoes
1926·6.8
The Marriage Clause
1926·9.0
The Mystery Club
1926·10.0
Don Juan
1926·6.6
Infatuation
1925·10.0
The Winding Stair
1925·10.0
Flower of Night
1925·10.0
Don Q Son of Zorro
1925·6.7
Riders of the Purple Sage
1925·6.1
Curlytop
1924·10.0
So This Is Marriage?
1924·7.0
The Fighting American
1924·6.8
His Children's Children
1923·8.0
The Pride of Palomar
1922·7.0
East Is West
1922·8.0
Hurricane Hutch
1921·6.5
The Yellow Arm
1921·10.0
The Phantom Foe
1920·7.0
The Third Eye
1920·9.0
The Witness for the Defense
1919·7.0
The Avalanche
1919·0.0
The Twin Pawns
1919·6.8
Mandarin's Gold
1919·7.0
The Lightning Raider
1919·9.0
The Yellow Ticket
1918·0.0
The Naulahka
1918·0.0
The Cigarette Girl
1917·8.0
The Fatal Ring
1917·0.0
Patria
1917·6.5
The Rise of Susan
1916·0.0
Beatrice Fairfax
1916·5.0
The Eternal Question
1916·8.0
The Eternal Sapho
1916·0.0
The Reapers
1916·0.0
Destruction
1915·1.0
Sin
1915·0.0
The Romance of Elaine
1915·0.0
Pilgrim's Progress
1912·7.0