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Roland Winters

Roland Winters

Roland Winters (born Roland Winternitz) was an American actor who played many character parts in films and television but today is best remembered for portraying Charlie Chan in six films in the late 1940s. Monogram Pictures eventually selected Winters to replace Sidney Toler in the Charlie Chan film series. Winters was 44 when he made the first of his six Chan films, The Chinese Ring in 1947 and ending with Charlie Chan and the Sky Dragon (also known as Sky Dragon) in 1949. His other Chan films were "Docks of New Orleans", "Shanghai Chest", "The Golden Eye" and "The Feathered Serpent". He also had character roles in three other feature films while he worked on the Chan series. Yunte Huang, in Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History, noted differences in the actors' appearances, especially that Winters' "tall nose simply could not be made to look Chinese." Huang also cited the actor's age, writing, "at the age of forty-four, he also looked too young to resemble a seasoned Chinese sage." In contrast to Huang, Ken Hanke wrote in his book, Charlie Chan at the Movies: History, Filmography, and Criticism, "Roland Winters has never received his due ... Winters brought with him a badly needed breath of fresh air to the series." He cited "the richness of the approach and the verve with which the series was being tackled" during the Winters era." Similarly, Howard M. Berlin, in his book, Charlie Chan's Words of Wisdom, commented that "Winters brought a much needed breath of fresh air to the flagging film series with his self-mocking, semi-satirical interpretation of Charlie, which is very close to the Charlie Chan in Biggers' novels." After the series finished, Winters continued to work in film and television until 1982. He was in the movies So Big and Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, played Elvis' father in Blue Hawaii and a judge in the Elvis film Follow That Dream. He made appearances as the boss on the early TV series Meet Millie as the boss and the courtroom drama Perry Mason. In one episode of the Bewitched TV series, he played the normally unseen McMann of McMann and Tate. He also portrayed Mr. Gimbel in Miracle on 34th Street in 1973.

Personal information

Birthday

1904-11-22

Birth Place

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Movies and TV shows :

A Dangerous Profession

A Dangerous Profession

1949

5.6

Movie
A String of Beads

A String of Beads

1961

0.0

Movie
poster

Adam's Rib

1973

5.0

TV
Between Midnight and Dawn

Between Midnight and Dawn

1950

5.8

Movie
poster

Bewitched

1964

7.9

TV
Big Deal in Laredo

Big Deal in Laredo

1962

0.0

Movie
Bigger Than Life

Bigger Than Life

1956

7.1

Movie
Blue Hawaii

Blue Hawaii

1961

5.9

Movie
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff

1949

6.5

Movie
Captain Carey, U.S.A.

Captain Carey, U.S.A.

1950

5.5

Movie
Cash McCall

Cash McCall

1960

6.0

Movie
Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane

1941

8.0

Movie
Convicted

Convicted

1950

6.3

Movie
Cry of the City

Cry of the City

1948

6.8

Movie
Doc

Doc

1969

0.0

Movie
Docks of New Orleans

Docks of New Orleans

1948

5.9

Movie
Everything's Ducky

Everything's Ducky

1961

7.5

Movie
Follow That Dream

Follow That Dream

1962

6.1

Movie
Follow the Sun

Follow the Sun

1951

7.0

Movie
poster

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

1964

7.1

TV
Guilty of Treason

Guilty of Treason

1950

6.0

Movie
Inside Straight

Inside Straight

1951

4.2

Movie
Jet Pilot

Jet Pilot

1957

5.5

Movie
Kidnapped

Kidnapped

1948

5.5

Movie
Killer Shark

Killer Shark

1950

6.0

Movie
Loving

Loving

1970

6.0

Movie
Malaya

Malaya

1949

6.5

Movie
Miracle on 34th Street

Miracle on 34th Street

1973

6.8

Movie
Never Steal Anything Small

Never Steal Anything Small

1959

8.0

Movie
Once More, My Darling

Once More, My Darling

1949

5.7

Movie
poster

Perry Mason

1957

7.7

TV
poster

Play of the Week

1959

0.0

TV
Raton Pass

Raton Pass

1951

4.8

Movie
Shanghai Chest

Shanghai Chest

1948

6.1

Movie
She's Working Her Way Through College

She's Working Her Way Through College

1952

5.1

Movie
Sierra Passage

Sierra Passage

1950

6.0

Movie
Sky Dragon

Sky Dragon

1949

7.7

Movie
So Big

So Big

1953

5.6

Movie
poster

The Addams Family

1964

8.1

TV
poster

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

1962

7.8

TV
poster

The Carol Burnett Show

1967

7.5

TV
The Chinese Ring

The Chinese Ring

1947

4.9

Movie
The Computer Comes to Marketing

The Computer Comes to Marketing

0.0

Movie
poster

The Dain Curse

1978

6.2

TV
poster

The Defenders

1961

6.2

TV
The Feathered Serpent

The Feathered Serpent

1948

5.8

Movie
The Golden Eye

The Golden Eye

1948

5.4

Movie
The Iceman Cometh

The Iceman Cometh

1960

7.1

Movie
poster

The Lucy Show

1962

7.1

TV
The Return of October

The Return of October

1948

6.4

Movie
The Underworld Story

The Underworld Story

1950

6.1

Movie
The West Point Story

The West Point Story

1950

5.8

Movie
To Please a Lady

To Please a Lady

1950

6.3

Movie
Top Secret Affair

Top Secret Affair

1957

4.6

Movie
Tuna Clipper

Tuna Clipper

1949

6.5

Movie
You Can't Go Home Again

You Can't Go Home Again

1979

1.0

Movie