From Wikipedia's entry on Warner Oland, who was born Johan Verner Olund:
''He claimed that his vaguely Asian appearance was due to possessing some Mongolian ancestry, though his known ancestry contains no indication that this was so.'' Swedish genealogist Sven-Erik Johansson has traced Ölund's ancestry back 5 generations.
From Lloyd's Beware the Blog: ''It has been established that his family was connected to the "Sami" people today known as "Laplanders". Since prehistoric times the "Sami's" have lived in the areas we now call Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Russian Kola Peninsula. The picture below of a group of "Sami's" does show some facial similarities to either the Mongol, or Tartar races. However, the "Sami" genealogy does not tie them to those two other groups as Warner Oland thought.''
''
Oland made a career of playing ''Oriental'' roles (like Charlie Chan and Fu Manchu). His ''Mongol'' claim sounds like P.R. to boost his ''authenticity.'' |
