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