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Warner Oland (October 3, 1879 - August 6, 1938)
was a Sweden|Swedish actor most remembered for his
role as "Charlie Chan."


Born Johan Verner Ölund in the village of Nyby,
Bjurholm Municipality,
Västerbotten County, Sweden, at age thirteen his
family emigrated to the United States. An
intellect educated in Boston, Massachusetts, he
spoke English and his native Swedish, and
eventually translated some of the plays of August
Strindberg. As a young man he pursued a career in
theater, at first working on set design while
developing his acting skills. Trained as a
dramatic actor, in 1906, he was signed to tour the
country with the troupe led by actress Alla
Nazimova. The following year he met and married
the playright and portrait painter, Edith Gardener
Shearn. The brillant woman made an ideal partner
for Oland and she mastered the Swedish language,
helping him with the translation of Strindberg's
works that they jointly had published in book form
in 1912. 

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.
It would be another three years before he returned
to film work with a role in The Romance of Elaine,
an adventure film starring the extremely popular
Pearl White. As a result of his training as a
Shakespearean actor and his easy adaptation to a
sinister look, he was much in demand as a villain
and in ethic roles. He made several more films
with Pearl White including his first portrayal of
an oriental character in her 1919 film, The
Lightning Raider. Over the next fifteen years he
appeared in more than thirty films, including a
major role in 1927's The Jazz Singer, one of the
first talkies produced. 

Oland's facial features, aided by makeup, allowed
him to easily play the part of oriental
characters. With a lack of skilled oriental actors
available in Hollywood, he portrayed a variety of
oriental characters in several movies before being
offered the leading role in the 1929 film, The
Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu. A box office success,
the film made Oland a star and during the next two
years, he portrayed the evil Dr. Fu Manchu in
three more films. Firmly locked into oriental
roles, he was cast as Charlie Chan in the 1931
international detective mystery film, Charlie Chan
Carries On and then in director Josef von
Sternberg's 1932 film, Shanghai Express.

Although Oland did act in other films, the
enormous worldwide box office success of his
Charlie Chan film led to a Charlie Chan industry
with Oland starring in sixteen films in total.
Despite his wealth and success, Oland suffered
from alcoholism that severely affected his heath
and his thirty-year marriage. Signed to a new
contract by 20th Century Fox|Twentieth Century-Fox
Film Corporation to make three more Charlie Chan
films, in early 1938 Oland's health problems
worsened and he spent several weeks in hospital
then took time off to travel to his native Sweden.
While there, he contacted bronchial pneumonia and
hampered by the apparent onset of emphysema from
years of heavy cigarette smoking, he passed away
at a hospital in Stockholm.

Warner Oland and his wife made a historic
farmhouse near the village of Southborough,
Massachusetts their primary residence. Following
cremation in Sweden, his ashes were brought back
to the U.S. by his wife for interrment in the
Southborough Rural Cemetery. 

Partial Filmography:
*Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo (1937)
*Charlie Chan on Broadway  (1937)
*Charlie Chan at the Olympics  (1937)
*Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936) 
*Charlie Chan in Paris (1935) 
*Charlie Chan's Secret (1935) 
*Werewolf of London (1935) 
*The Painted Veil (1934) 
*Shanghai Express (1932) 
*Dishonored (1931) 
*The Drums of Jeopardy (1931) 
*The Jazz Singer (1927) 
*Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925) 
*Riders of the Purple Sage (1925) 
*The Fighting American (1924) 
*East Is West   (1922)
*The Phantom Foe  (1920)
*Mandarin's Gold  (1919)
*The Fatal Ring  (1917)
*The Romance of Elaine  (1915)
*Pilgrim's Progress (1912)