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.
    Known for
    Acting
    Place of birth
    Boston, Massachusetts, USA
    Birthday
    22 November 1904
Cry of the City
Cry of the City
6.729
Bigger Than Life
Bigger Than Life
7.189
The Underworld Story
The Underworld Story
6.259
Convicted
Convicted
6.141
Between Midnight and Dawn
Between Midnight and Dawn
5.717
Malaya
Malaya
6.933
Blue Hawaii
Blue Hawaii
5.953
A Dangerous Profession
A Dangerous Profession
5.7
Docks of New Orleans
Docks of New Orleans
6.071
So Big
So Big
5.462
The West Point Story
The West Point Story
5.773
The Chinese Ring
The Chinese Ring
5.059
Jet Pilot
Jet Pilot
5.49
Sky Dragon
Sky Dragon
8
The Feathered Serpent
The Feathered Serpent
6.077
The Shanghai Chest
The Shanghai Chest
6.583
The Golden Eye
The Golden Eye
5.567
Killer Shark
Killer Shark
6.4
You Can't Go Home Again
You Can't Go Home Again
3
Top Secret Affair
Top Secret Affair
4.857
She's Working Her Way Through College
She's Working Her Way Through College
5.375
To Please a Lady
To Please a Lady
6.536
The Return of October
The Return of October
6.429
Once More, My Darling
Once More, My Darling
6.5
Raton Pass
Raton Pass
4.885
Never Steal Anything Small
Never Steal Anything Small
8.2
Tuna Clipper
Tuna Clipper
7.75
Follow the Sun
Follow the Sun
6.286
Everything's Ducky
Everything's Ducky
6.5
A String of Beads
A String of Beads
8
Miracle on 34th Street
Miracle on 34th Street
7
Inside Straight
Inside Straight
4.875
Kidnapped
Kidnapped
6.667
Guilty of Treason
Guilty of Treason
6.333
Loving
Loving
5.974
Cash McCall
Cash McCall
6.333
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane
7.977
Sierra Passage
Sierra Passage
7.5
The Computer Comes to Marketing
0
Captain Carey, U.S.A.
Captain Carey, U.S.A.
5.778
Follow That Dream
Follow That Dream
6.115
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff
6.605
Big Deal in Laredo
0
The Iceman Cometh
The Iceman Cometh
7.375
Doc
Doc
8