Warner Oland(1879-1938)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Warner Oland was born Johan Verner Olund in the small village of Nyby
in Bjurholm parish in the county of Vasterbotten, Sweden, on October 3,
1879. Bjurholm is situated about 60 kilometers outside the town of
Umea. His family emigrated to the US on October 15, 1892. His father
Jonas was a shopkeeper and his mother was Maria Johanna (nee Forsberg).
After finishing grade school and working on Broadway during his 20s,
Oland settled in California in the early 1910s, where he worked odd
jobs. The movie industry was in its beginning stages in Hollywood, and
Johan Olund--changing his name to the more Americanized "Warner
Oland"--worked as a stage actor for a while before getting small parts
in films in the 1910s and 1920s. As Hollywood made the transition from
silent to sound pictures in the late 1920s (Oland co-starred in Warner
Brothers' groundbreaking part-talkie
The Jazz Singer (1927)), he began
landing more prominent roles.
His greatest success came in 1931 when he was cast in the role of
Charlie Chan, a Honolulu-based Chinese-American police detective in
Charlie Chan Carries On (1931),
based on the popular detective mystery series by
Earl Derr Biggers [1884-1933] which
was produced by Fox Films. His performance as the seemingly
mild-mannered but razor-sharp Asian detective won him critical acclaim,
which resulted in his playing Chan again in the sequel,
The Black Camel (1931).
The success of the Chan character turned into a cash cow for Fox
Studios and Oland became a valuable property. It seems incredible
today, but in Fox's pre-Shirley Temple
period, Oland was considered the only guaranteed profit maker on the
lot. He became wealthy and bred miniature schnauzers. Although
seemingly happy, Oland became increasingly dependent upon alcohol and
exhibited bizarre delusional behavior after periods of drinking.
Oland appeared in a total of 16 Charlie Chan feature films from 1931 to
1937. The Chan films were budgeted approaching 1930s A-picture levels
(approximately $275,000) and were usually shot within tight 30-day
schedules, three films per year (sadly, a number of these have
apparently been lost). The series was pretty much the only guaranteed
profit-maker the ailing studio could bank on during the days leading to
its takeover by ex-Warner's production chief
Darryl F. Zanuck in 1935, that resulted
in its transformation from Fox Films into Twentieth Century-Fox.
From 1931 to 1935 Oland did other films besides the Chan series, but he
was increasingly relegated to roles that didn't vary much beyond
mysterious Asians, and in mid-1935 he became so identified as Charlie
Chan that he was assigned to the series exclusively. His last eight
films were all Chan entries, usually co-starring
Keye Luke, who played Chan's Number One Son.
While considered somewhat stereotypical today, these films were met
with wide critical acclaim and all were hugely profitable. The best of
the series is generally considered to be
Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936),
featuring lavish set design and a particularly effective menacing
villain in Boris Karloff.
Oland's physical and mental problems slowly began to catch up to him,
and in 1937 he was said to have suffered a nervous breakdown apparently
due to some kind of mental dementia. The Fox executives, knowing that
Oland was one of its biggest money earners, kept his alcoholism and
mental problems hidden from the public. In November 1937, Edith, his
wife of 30 years, filed for divorce. In January 1938 "Charlie Chan at
(the) Ringside" began production at Fox's Western Avenue lot under the
direction of James Tinling with an
increasingly erratic Oland. After a few days shooting inside Studio 6,
Oland walked out and never returned. He was heard complaining the
studio was possessed by voodoo and feared contracting pneumonia. Over
the next month there were numerous negotiations between Oland and SAG
(Oland had been an early member) and production was briefly resumed,
then suspended after Oland again failed to report to work. He was
hospitalized and released, then decided to return to his mother's home
in Sweden. Oland's film career, unbeknown to him, was over. In the
interim, producer Sol M. Wurtzel,
desperate to salvage the property, ordered the Chan picture reworked as
Mr. Moto's Gamble (1938), with
minor supporting cast changes. Successful negotiations were made with
the Biggers' estate and the film was quickly shot with
Peter Lorre and released April 7,
1938. The film itself remains an anachronism in the Moto series, as it
contains much Chan-like dialog, tacked on Moto-esque action scenes and
a guest-starring role by Keye Luke. Regardless, it was also a hit.
During his visit to Sweden, Oland negotiated a reconciliation with
Edith but contracted bronchial pneumonia and died there on August 6,
1938, at age 57. Ironically, Fox contract (and Chan series) director
John G. Blystone died the same day.
Numerous actors were tested to fill Oland's shoes as Charlie Chan,
among them Cy Kendall,
Walter Connolly,
J. Edward Bromberg,
Noah Beery Jr.,
Michael Visaroff and
Leo Carillo (Kendall and Connelly had played
Chan on radio). The series continued at Fox for another 11 entries with
Sidney Toler, who was signed by Zanuck in
mid-October 1938. Toler injected more humor into the character as
scripts became somewhat more pedestrian. By 1942 Fox considered the
series exhausted and it would ultimately be sold to low-budget studio
Monogram Pictures and continue on even after Toler's death in 1947 with
Roland Winters in the role through six
dismal films into 1949.
In a postscript, Fox director
Norman Foster paid a subtle
tribute to Oland in the next Moto film,
Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1938).
During that movie's production in August 1938, cast and crew learned of
Oland's passing in his native Sweden. Over the title
Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938),
on the bill of the Sultana Theatre of Variety, they placed the banner
"Last Day."
in Bjurholm parish in the county of Vasterbotten, Sweden, on October 3,
1879. Bjurholm is situated about 60 kilometers outside the town of
Umea. His family emigrated to the US on October 15, 1892. His father
Jonas was a shopkeeper and his mother was Maria Johanna (nee Forsberg).
After finishing grade school and working on Broadway during his 20s,
Oland settled in California in the early 1910s, where he worked odd
jobs. The movie industry was in its beginning stages in Hollywood, and
Johan Olund--changing his name to the more Americanized "Warner
Oland"--worked as a stage actor for a while before getting small parts
in films in the 1910s and 1920s. As Hollywood made the transition from
silent to sound pictures in the late 1920s (Oland co-starred in Warner
Brothers' groundbreaking part-talkie
The Jazz Singer (1927)), he began
landing more prominent roles.
His greatest success came in 1931 when he was cast in the role of
Charlie Chan, a Honolulu-based Chinese-American police detective in
Charlie Chan Carries On (1931),
based on the popular detective mystery series by
Earl Derr Biggers [1884-1933] which
was produced by Fox Films. His performance as the seemingly
mild-mannered but razor-sharp Asian detective won him critical acclaim,
which resulted in his playing Chan again in the sequel,
The Black Camel (1931).
The success of the Chan character turned into a cash cow for Fox
Studios and Oland became a valuable property. It seems incredible
today, but in Fox's pre-Shirley Temple
period, Oland was considered the only guaranteed profit maker on the
lot. He became wealthy and bred miniature schnauzers. Although
seemingly happy, Oland became increasingly dependent upon alcohol and
exhibited bizarre delusional behavior after periods of drinking.
Oland appeared in a total of 16 Charlie Chan feature films from 1931 to
1937. The Chan films were budgeted approaching 1930s A-picture levels
(approximately $275,000) and were usually shot within tight 30-day
schedules, three films per year (sadly, a number of these have
apparently been lost). The series was pretty much the only guaranteed
profit-maker the ailing studio could bank on during the days leading to
its takeover by ex-Warner's production chief
Darryl F. Zanuck in 1935, that resulted
in its transformation from Fox Films into Twentieth Century-Fox.
From 1931 to 1935 Oland did other films besides the Chan series, but he
was increasingly relegated to roles that didn't vary much beyond
mysterious Asians, and in mid-1935 he became so identified as Charlie
Chan that he was assigned to the series exclusively. His last eight
films were all Chan entries, usually co-starring
Keye Luke, who played Chan's Number One Son.
While considered somewhat stereotypical today, these films were met
with wide critical acclaim and all were hugely profitable. The best of
the series is generally considered to be
Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936),
featuring lavish set design and a particularly effective menacing
villain in Boris Karloff.
Oland's physical and mental problems slowly began to catch up to him,
and in 1937 he was said to have suffered a nervous breakdown apparently
due to some kind of mental dementia. The Fox executives, knowing that
Oland was one of its biggest money earners, kept his alcoholism and
mental problems hidden from the public. In November 1937, Edith, his
wife of 30 years, filed for divorce. In January 1938 "Charlie Chan at
(the) Ringside" began production at Fox's Western Avenue lot under the
direction of James Tinling with an
increasingly erratic Oland. After a few days shooting inside Studio 6,
Oland walked out and never returned. He was heard complaining the
studio was possessed by voodoo and feared contracting pneumonia. Over
the next month there were numerous negotiations between Oland and SAG
(Oland had been an early member) and production was briefly resumed,
then suspended after Oland again failed to report to work. He was
hospitalized and released, then decided to return to his mother's home
in Sweden. Oland's film career, unbeknown to him, was over. In the
interim, producer Sol M. Wurtzel,
desperate to salvage the property, ordered the Chan picture reworked as
Mr. Moto's Gamble (1938), with
minor supporting cast changes. Successful negotiations were made with
the Biggers' estate and the film was quickly shot with
Peter Lorre and released April 7,
1938. The film itself remains an anachronism in the Moto series, as it
contains much Chan-like dialog, tacked on Moto-esque action scenes and
a guest-starring role by Keye Luke. Regardless, it was also a hit.
During his visit to Sweden, Oland negotiated a reconciliation with
Edith but contracted bronchial pneumonia and died there on August 6,
1938, at age 57. Ironically, Fox contract (and Chan series) director
John G. Blystone died the same day.
Numerous actors were tested to fill Oland's shoes as Charlie Chan,
among them Cy Kendall,
Walter Connolly,
J. Edward Bromberg,
Noah Beery Jr.,
Michael Visaroff and
Leo Carillo (Kendall and Connelly had played
Chan on radio). The series continued at Fox for another 11 entries with
Sidney Toler, who was signed by Zanuck in
mid-October 1938. Toler injected more humor into the character as
scripts became somewhat more pedestrian. By 1942 Fox considered the
series exhausted and it would ultimately be sold to low-budget studio
Monogram Pictures and continue on even after Toler's death in 1947 with
Roland Winters in the role through six
dismal films into 1949.
In a postscript, Fox director
Norman Foster paid a subtle
tribute to Oland in the next Moto film,
Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1938).
During that movie's production in August 1938, cast and crew learned of
Oland's passing in his native Sweden. Over the title
Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938),
on the bill of the Sultana Theatre of Variety, they placed the banner
"Last Day."