Johan Verner Ölund Wiki: Salary, Married, Wedding, Spouse, Family
Warner Oland (October 3, 1879 – August 6, 1938) was a Swedish American actor most remembered for his screen role as the detective Charlie Chan. He moved to the United States when he was 13 and pursued a film career that would include time on Broadway and dozens of film appearances. He starred in a total of 16 Charlie Chan films.
Full Name
Johan Verner Ölund
Net Worth
$17 Million
Date Of Birth
October 3, 1879
Died
1938-08-06
Place Of Birth
Nyby, Västerbottens län, Sweden
Height
5' 11" (1.8 m)
Occupation
Actor
Profession
Actor, Soundtrack
Spouse
Edith Gardener Shearn
Nicknames
Warner Oland, Oland, Warner
Star Sign
Libra
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Quote
1
[on visiting China in the 1930s] Everywhere I went, people addressed me in Chinese. I was always introduced as 'Mr. Chan'.
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Fact
1
Oland played his first Oriental role in "Patria," when the Japanese actor playing the villain proved too short for star Irene Castle, and the six foot Oland was hired to fill the role.
2
Appeared in the Shakespearean companies of E.H. Sothern and Julia Marlowe, where his talent was recognized by Nazimova, who used him in a series of Ibsem plays in the Winter of 1906.
3
Died August 6, 1938 in Stockholm just two days after the death of Pearl White, his former co-star in "The Fatal Ring.".
4
Moved to Connecticut with his parents from his native Sweden when he was thirteen. Three years later he left to join Curry;s Dramatic School in Boston.
5
Soon after his last film, another Chan entry titled Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo (1937), which was completed in the fall of 1937, Oland began experiencing symptoms of dementia. He was apprehended walking outside his neighborhood in his underwear in the company of his prized miniature schnauzer completely disoriented. He returned to Sweden and sadly, Oland died the following August after a brief bout with pneumonia.
6
According to co-star Keye Luke Oland didn't need make-up when he played Charlie Chan; all he would do is curl down his mustache and curl up his eyebrows. In fact, the Chinese often mistook him for one of their own countrymen. He attributed this to the fact that his Russian grandmother was of Mongolian descent.
7
Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 461-462. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
8
Oland got a big break when the actress Alla Nazimova spotted him performing Shakespeare and signed him to her 1906 touring company of Ibsen's plays.
9
Buried in Southborough Rural Cemetery, Southborough, Massachusetts. His gravestone, a rough oval, was made from one of the steps of his beloved home in this town.
