Ken Takakura
Acting
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.
Known for
Acting201
movieKen San
2016
Self
movieDearest
2012
Eiji Shimakura
movieBlack Rain: Making The Film
2006
Self (archive footage)
movieRiding Alone for Thousands of Miles
2005
Gou-ichi Takata
movieThe Firefly
2001
Yamaoka Shuji
movieRailroad Man
1999
Otomatsu Sato
tvSMAP×SMAP
1996
Bistro Guest
movie47 Ronin
1994
Kuranosuke Oishi
movieMr. Baseball
1992
Uchiyama
tvAn Elegy of Tyrole
1992
Tateishi Jiro
movieRobert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
1991
Self (archive footage)
movieBuddies
1989
Kadokura
movieBlack Rain
1989
Masahiro
movieUmi e, See You
1988
Eiji Honma
movieDemon
1985
Shuji
movieAntarctica
1983
Ushioda
movieThe Longest Tunnel
1982
Go Akutsu
movieKarate Cop
1982
Detective Mikami
movieStation
1981
Eiji Mikami
movieA Distant Cry from Spring
1980
Kosaku Tajima
movieThe Revolt
1980
Keisuke Miyagi
movieNever Give Up
1978
Takeshi Ajisawa
movieWinter's Flower
1978
Hidetsugu Kano
movieThe Yellow Handkerchief
1977
Yusaku Shima
movieMount Hakkoda
1977
Captain Tokushima
movieManhunt
1976
Morioka
movieThe International Gang of Kobe
1975
Masato Dan
movieThe Bullet Train
1975
Tetsuo Okita
movieGreat Jailbreak
1975
Ichiro Kozue
movieThe Yakuza
1974
Tanaka Ken
movieThe Homeless
1974
Jokichi Anabuki
movieGolgo 13
1973
Duke Togo / Golgo 13
movieYakuza of the Present
1973
Ryoichi Shimaya
movieJapan's Top Gangster
1973
Kazuo Taoka
movieContemporary Tales of Chivalry: Forbidden Love
1971
Hidejiro Hanada
moviePatience Has An End
1971
Isamu Tekada
movieThe Path of the King
1971
Ryutaro Fudo
movieThe Last Kamikaze
1970
Koji Yashiro
movieToo Late the Hero
1970
Major Yamaguchi
movieGambler's Legacy
1969
Tsukuda Ginjiro
movieMemoir of Japanese Assassinations
1969
Saburo Aizawa
movieSamurai Geisha
1969
Shimada Seikichi
movieThe Domain: Flower and Dragon
1969
Kingoro Tamai
movieThe Biggest Gamble
1969
Shuzo Honjo
movieRed Peony Gambler: Flower Cards Game
1969
Shogo Hanaoka
movieNew Prison Walls of Abashiri
1968
Katsuji Suehiro
movieRogue
1968
Isamu Oba
movieRed Peony Gambler
1968
Naoki Katagiri
movieThe Drifting Avenger
1968
Ken Kato
movieA Story from Abashiri Prison—Duel in Snow Storm
1967
Shin-ichi Tachibana
movieAbashiri Prison: Challenge to the Evil
1967
Shin-ichi Tachibana
movieClassmates
1967
First Lieutenant Kenmochi
movieThe Chivalrous Life
1967
Ryuma Ibuki
movieGlorious Fights
1966
Ichiro Takita
movieThe Kamikaze Guy
1966
Fumio Kuroki
moviePrison Walls of Abashiri 4
1965
Shin'ichi Tachibana
moviePrison Walls of Abashiri 3
1965
Shinichi Tachibana
movieBrutal Tales of Chivalry
1965
Seiji Terajima
movieMiyamoto Musashi V: Musashi vs Kojiro
1965
Sasaki Kojiro
moviePrison Walls of Abashiri, Part 2
1965
Shinichi Tachibana
movieAbashiri Prison
1965
Shinichi Tachibana
movieTokyo Untouchable
1965
Yoshio Harada
movieWolves, Pigs & Men
1964
Jiro Kuroki, the second brother
movieAn Outlaw
1964
Minami
movieTokyo Untouchable: Escape
1963
Yoshio Harada
movieEleven Gangsters
1963
Sawagami
movieSong of Kagoshima
1962
Shuhei Tategami
movieTales of President Mito
1962
Sukesaburo Sasa
movieDevil's Nursery Rhyme
1961
Kosuke Kindaichi
movieFeisty Edo Girl Nakanori-san
1961
Kenichi Oka
movieFlower, Storm and Gangster
1961
'Smiley' Ken
movieThe Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 4
1961
Kenichi Hanamura
movieFour Hours of Terror
1959
Captain Yamamoto
movieThe Bastards of Lawless Town
1959
Fumio Sone
movieSister with Sister
1958
Hiroshi Ishioka
movieThe Outsiders
1958
Ichitaro Kazamori
movieJet Air Base 101
1957
Jiro Nakata
movieMen Fighting Whales
1957
Yosuke Yamagami
movie恐怖の空中殺人
1956
島田寿夫
movieManchurian Sunset
1956
Shintaro
