Warner Oland House - Southborough

The Warner Oland House is located on Gilmore Road in Southborough, Massachusetts.  The home, also known as the Charles Burnett House, named for the original owner, dates to circa 1815.  The home passed through several hands before it was purchased in 1921 by Warner Oland and his wife, Edith Gardener Shearn.  The 40 year old actor had been on the stage since 1906, and films since 1912, yet had failed to make an impression with audiences.  Throughout the 1920's he continued working consistently with roles in The Jazz Singer (1927), Old San Francisco (1927) and The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu (1929), but it wouldn't be until 1931 that he would make film history.  That year Fox cast the Swedish born Oland as Charlie Chan in Charlie Chan Carries On, the first of 16 films he would eventually make as the Chinese detective.  The popularity of the films was earning Oland a paycheck of $40,000 per film through the series' run.  During this time he also had memorable roles in Shanghai Express (1932) and Werewolf of London (1935).  By 1938, however, his good fortunes began to fail.  A nasty divorce from his wife and health problems from years of alcohol abuse began to take their toll.  In January he walked off the set of Charlie Chan at the Ringside, which was to remain unfinished, and although he signed a new contract with Fox, he would never return to the role of Chan.  In April he left for a vacation in Stockholm, during which time he contracted bronchial pneumonia.  Already in poor health he never recovered and died in the hospital on August 6.  The house he named Smoke Tree Farm was his home during much of the 1920's but as his fame grew during the 1930's he used the farm as a summer retreat from filming in Hollywood.  After his death he was buried at Southborough Rural Cemetery under a large stone reportedly taken from the home's front yard.  The road next to his former home is now called Oland Lane. 

 Submit photo(s) for this home.