Ken Takakura (高倉 健, Takakura Ken), born Gouichi Oda (February 16, 1931, in Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka, Japan), was a Japanese actor best known for his brooding style and the stoic presence he brings to his roles. Takakura gained his streetwise swagger and tough-guy persona watching yakuza turf battles over the lucrative black market and racketeering in postwar Fukuoka. This subject was covered in one of his most famous movies, Showa Zankyo-den (Remnants of Chivalry in the Showa Era), in which he played an honorable old-school yakuza among the violent post-war gurentai. A graduate of Meiji University in Tokyo Takakura happened by an audition in 1955 at the Toei Film Company, and decided to look in. Toei found a natural in Takakura as he debuted with Denko Karate Uchi (Lightning Karate Blow) in 1956. Japan experienced a boom in gangster films in the 1960s as the Japanese people struggled with the generational differences between those raised in pre-war and post-war Japan and these were Takakura's stock and trade. His breakout role would be in the 1965 film Abashiri Prison, and its sequel Abashiri Bangaichi: Bokyohen (Abashiri Prison: Longing for Home, also 1965), in which he played an ex-con antihero. By the time Takakura would leave Toei in 1976, he had appeared in over 180 films. Takakura gained international recognition after starring in the 1970 war film Too Late the Hero as the cunning Imperial Japanese Major Yamaguchi, the 1975 Sydney Pollack sleeper hit The Yakuza with Robert Mitchum and is probably best known in the West for his role in Ridley Scott's Black Rain (1989) where he surprises American cops played by Michael Douglas and Andy García with the line, "I do speak fucking English". He again proved himself bankable to Western audiences with the 1992 Fred Schepisi comedy Mr. Baseball starring Tom Selleck. While he has slowed down a bit in his older years, he is still active. His most recent film was the 2005 Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles by Chinese director Zhang Yimou. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ken Takakura, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Movie | Ken San | Self | 2016-08-20 |
Movie | Dearest | Eiji Shimakura | 2012-08-25 |
Movie | Black Rain: Making The Film | Self (archive footage) | 2006-10-10 |
Movie | The Firefly | Yamaoka Shuji | 2001-05-01 |
Movie | Railroad Man | Otomatsu Sato | 1999-06-05 |
Movie | 47 Ronin | Kuranosuke Oishi | 1994-10-22 |
Movie | Mr. Baseball | Uchiyama | 1992-10-01 |
Movie | Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star | Self (archive footage) | 1991-03-10 |
Movie | Buddies | Kadokura | 1989-11-03 |
Movie | Black Rain | Masahiro | 1989-09-22 |
Movie | See You | 1988-05-18 | |
Movie | Demon | Shuji | 1985-08-31 |
Movie | Choji Snack Bar | Eiji | 1983-11-12 |
Movie | Antarctica | Ushioda | 1983-07-23 |
Movie | Karate Cop | Detective Mikami | 1982-04-17 |
Movie | The Longest Tunnel | Go Akutsu | 1982-10-16 |
Movie | Station | Eiji Mikami | 1981-11-07 |
Movie | The Revolt | Keisuke Miyagi | 1980-01-15 |
Movie | A Distant Cry from Spring | Kosaku Tajima | 1980-03-15 |
Movie | Winter's Flower | Hidetsugu Kano | 1978-06-17 |
Movie | Mount Hakkoda | Captain Tokushima | 1977-06-04 |
Movie | The Yellow Handkerchief | Yusaku Shima | 1977-09-30 |
Movie | Manhunt | Morioka | 1976-02-11 |
Movie | The International Gang of Kobe | Masato Dan | 1975-10-14 |
Movie | The Bullet Train | Tetsuo Okita | 1975-07-05 |
Movie | Third Generation Boss | Unknown | 1974-08-10 |
Movie | The Yakuza | Tanaka Ken | 1974-12-21 |
Movie | The Homeless | Jokichi Anabuki | 1974-10-09 |
Movie | Yakuza of the Present | Ryoichi Shimaya | 1973-10-27 |
Movie | Golgo 13 | Duke Togo / Golgo 13 | 1973-12-29 |
Movie | Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Traitor Shall Die | Unknown | 1972-12-30 |
Movie | Lullaby for a Tough Guy | Unknown | 1972-04-01 |
Movie | The Kanto Scarlet Cherry Gang | Kuramoto | 1972-03-04 |
Movie | The Pledge | Unknown | 1972-07-30 |
Movie | Dagger | Unknown | 1971-04-28 |
Movie | Bloodiest Flower | Unknown | 1971-04-03 |
Movie | The Path of the King | Ryutaro Fudo | 1971-03-06 |
Movie | Patience Has An End | Isamu Tekada | 1971-06-25 |
Movie | Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: Forbidden Love | Hidejiro Hanada | 1971-10-27 |
Movie | New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Snowbound Deserter | Unknown | 1971-12-29 |
Movie | The Man | 1971-12-03 | |
Movie | New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stormy Cape | Unknown | 1971-08-13 |
Movie | Brave Red Flower of the North | Unknown | 1970-01-09 |
Movie | The Last Kamikaze | Koji Yashiro | 1970-10-29 |
Movie | The Domain: Rising Dragon | Unknown | 1970-12-03 |
Movie | Brothers Serving Time | Unknown | 1969-05-03 |
Movie | Red Peony Gambler: Second Generation Ceremony | Koji Yashiro | 1969-04-10 |
Movie | Red Peony Gambler: Flower Cards Game | Shogo Hanaoka | 1969-02-01 |
Movie | New Prison Walls of Abashiri 2 | Unknown | 1969-08-13 |
Movie | Samurai Geisha | Shimada Seikichi | 1969-07-31 |
Movie | Memoir of Japanese Assassinations | Saburo Aizawa | 1969-10-16 |
Movie | New Prison Walls of Abashiri: The Vagrant Comes to a Port Town | Unknown | 1969-12-27 |
Movie | Gambler's Legacy | Tsukuda Ginjiro | 1969-12-27 |
Movie | Brutal Tales of Chivalry 6 | Unknown | 1969-11-07 |
Movie | Histories of the Chivalrous | Unknown | 1968-08-01 |
Movie | Red Peony Gambler | Naoki Katagiri | 1968-09-14 |
Movie | Prison Boss | Unknown | 1968-04-18 |
Movie | New Prison Walls of Abashiri | Katsuji Suehiro | 1968-12-28 |
Movie | Hishakaku and Kiratsune: A Tale of Two Yakuza | Unknown | 1968-10-25 |
Movie | The Day the Sun Rose | Unknown | 1968-11-23 |
Movie | The Chivalrous Life | Ryuma Ibuki | 1967-05-30 |
Movie | Classmates | First Lieutenant Kenmochi | 1967-06-03 |
Movie | Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 4 | Unknown | 1967-07-08 |
Movie | A Story from Abashiri Prison—Duel in Snow Storm | Shin-ichi Tachibana | 1967-12-23 |
Movie | Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 2 | Unknown | 1966-01-13 |
Movie | The Bullet and the Horse | Unknown | 1966-04-23 |
Movie | Glorious Fights | Ichiro Takita | 1966-10-29 |
Movie | The Kamikaze Guy | Unknown | 1966-06-04 |
Movie | Abashiri Prison | Shinichi Tachibana | 1965-04-18 |
Movie | Prison Walls of Abashiri, Part 2 | Shinichi Tachibana | 1965-07-10 |
Movie | A Fugitive from the Past | Ajimura | 1965-01-15 |
Movie | Prison Walls of Abashiri 3 | Shinichi Tachibana | 1965-10-31 |
Movie | Miyamoto Musashi V: Musashi vs Kojiro | Sasaki Kojiro | 1965-09-04 |
Movie | Prison Walls of Abashiri 4 | Shin'ichi Tachibana | 1965-12-31 |
Movie | Brutal Tales of Chivalry | Seiji Terajima | 1965-10-01 |
Movie | Miyamoto Musashi: The Duel at Ichijo Temple | Sasaki Kojiro | 1964-01-01 |
Movie | Jakoman and Tetsu | Tetsu | 1964-02-08 |
Movie | The Domain | Unknown | 1964-08-13 |
Movie | An Outlaw | Minami | 1964-04-05 |
Movie | Wolves, Pigs & Men | Jiro Kuroki, the second brother | 1964-08-26 |
Movie | Life of Hishakaku | Unknown | 1963-03-16 |
Movie | Eleven Gangsters | Sawagami | 1963-01-15 |
Movie | Miyamoto Musashi: Birth of Two Sword Style | Sasaki Kojiro | 1963-08-14 |
Movie | Gang Loyalty and Vengeance | Asano | 1963-10-20 |
Movie | South Pacific Waves Are High | Unknown | 1962-01-09 |
Movie | All Rascals | Unknown | 1962-03-21 |
Movie | The Prickly Mouthed Geisha and the Girl of Osaka | Unknown | 1962-02-07 |
Movie | Lady Sen and Hideyori | Naomori | 1962-03-25 |
Movie | Tokyo Untouchable | Yoshio Harada | 1962-10-21 |
Movie | Operation Diamond | Unknown | 1962-12-09 |
Movie | The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 4 | Kenichi Hanamura | 1961-01-09 |
Movie | Flower, Storm and Gangster | 'Smiley' Ken | 1961-06-23 |
Movie | Mannen Taro and His Feminine Colleagues | Tarô Mannen | 1961-10-07 |
Movie | Devil's Nursery Rhyme | Kosuke Kindaichi | 1961-11-15 |
Movie | The Prickly Mouthed Geisha Part 2 | Unknown | 1960-03-01 |
Movie | The Second Bullet is Marked | Unknown | 1960-01-27 |
Movie | Man of the World 2 | Unknown | 1960-07-13 |
Movie | Outlaw Under a Blue Canopy | Unknown | 1960-05-10 |
Movie | The Sand City in Manchuria | Hari | 1960-08-24 |
Movie | Men in a Rough Town | Fumio Sone | 1959-01-28 |
Movie | A Dead Drifter | Unknown | 1959-05-13 |
Movie | Four Hours of Terror | Captain Yamamoto | 1959-09-30 |
Movie | Romance Freestyle | 1958-04-30 | |
Movie | No Advice Taken | Unknown | 1958-01-03 |
Movie | Beyond the Seasonal Wind | 1958-06-10 | |
Movie | The Outsiders | Ichitaro Kazamori | 1958-11-26 |
Movie | Sister with Sister | Hiroshi Ishioka | 1958-12-09 |
Movie | With Songs in My Heart | Unknown | 1958-09-10 |
Movie | Detective Duel | Unknown | 1958-08-06 |
Movie | The Deep Blue Sea | Unknown | 1957-07-30 |
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