Roland Winters
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- November 22, 1904
- Died
- October 22, 1989 (aged 84)
- Birthplace
- Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Biography
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
Photos
Filmography
You Can't Go Home Again
Movie · as Judge Bland
The Dain Curse
TV · as Hubert Collinson · 2 eps
Miracle on 34th Street
Movie · as Mr. Gimbel
Adam's Rib
TV · as Judge Ransom · 1 ep
Loving
Movie · as Plommie
Doc
Movie · as Watkins
The Carol Burnett Show
TV · as Various Characters · 1 ep
Archie
Movie · as Mr. Weatherbee
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
TV · as Dan Merrill · 1 ep
The Addams Family
TV · as Ralph J. Hulen · 1 ep
Bewitched
TV · as McMann · 1 ep
Follow That Dream
Movie · as Judge
Big Deal in Laredo
Movie · as Henry Drummond
The Lucy Show
TV · as Dean Bennett · 1 ep
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
TV · as Ivar West · 1 ep
Blue Hawaii
Movie · as Fred Gates
Everything's Ducky
Movie · as Capt. Bollinger
A String of Beads
Movie
The Defenders
TV · as Jeff Brubaker · 1 ep
Cash McCall
Movie · as Gen. Andrew Danvers
The Computer Comes to Marketing
Movie · as Ned
The Iceman Cometh
TV · as The General (Piet Wetjoen) · 2 eps
Never Steal Anything Small
Movie · as Doctor
Play of the Week
TV · 1 ep
Startime
TV · as Fannington · 1 ep
Jet Pilot
Movie · as Col. Sokolov
Top Secret Affair
Movie · as Sen. Burdick
Perry Mason
TV · as Archer Bryant · 1 ep
Bigger Than Life
Movie · as Dr. Ruric
Broken Arrow
TV · as James Perry · 1 ep
So Big
Movie · as Klaas Pool
She's Working Her Way Through College
Movie · as Fred Copeland
Raton Pass
Movie · as Sheriff Perigord
Follow the Sun
Movie · as Dr. Graham
Inside Straight
Movie · as Alexander Tomson
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV · as Boss · 1 ep
The Underworld Story
Movie · as Stanley Becker
Convicted
Movie · as Vernon Bradley, Attorney
Between Midnight and Dawn
Movie · as Leo Cusick
The West Point Story
Movie · as Harry Eberhart
Killer Shark
Movie · as Jeffrey White
To Please a Lady
Movie · as Dwight Barrington
Guilty of Treason
Movie · as Soviet Comissar Belov
Sierra Passage
Movie · as Sam Cooper
Captain Carey, U.S.A.
Movie · as Manfredo Acuto
Lux Video Theatre
TV · as General Millet, Greenleaf · 1 ep
The Jack Benny Program
TV · as General Sneed #1 · 1 ep
Malaya
Movie · as Bruno Gruber
A Dangerous Profession
Movie · as Jerry 'Mac' McKay
Sky Dragon
Movie · as Charlie Chan
Once More, My Darling
Movie · as Col. Head
Tuna Clipper
Movie · as E.J. Ransom
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff
Movie · as T. Hanley Brooks
Cry of the City
Movie · as Ledbetter
Docks of New Orleans
Movie · as Charlie Chan
The Shanghai Chest
Movie · as Charlie Chan
The Feathered Serpent
Movie · as Charlie Chan
The Golden Eye
Movie · as Charlie Chan
The Return of October
Movie · as Colonel Wood
Kidnapped
Movie · as Capt. Hoseason
The Chinese Ring
Movie · as Charlie Chan
Kraft Television Theatre
TV · 1 ep
Citizen Kane
Movie · as Newspaperman at Trenton Town Hall (uncredited)