Charley Chan

Celebrities, Celebrity Q&A, People
on August 27, 2009

How many actors played Charlie Chan over the years?
James Jackson, Hillsboro, N.H.

When you consider the foreign film versions and TV, there have been at least 10 actors that portrayed the Chinese-American detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers. The most famous were Warner Oland, who made 16 Chan movies between 1931 and 1937, and Sidney Toler, who starred in 22 films from 1938 to 1946. Roland Winters and Peter Ustinov also played Chan on film, while J. Carrol Naish starred in the 1957 TV series, and Ross Martin took on the role for a 1973 TV movie.