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Ken Takakura

Ken Takakura

Actor · 1931 – 2014 · Nakama, Fukuoka, Japan

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.

Movies24

  • Movie6.6

    Black Rain

    1989 · 1.3K votes

  • Movie7.1

    The Yakuza

    1974 · 228 votes

  • Movie7.0

    The Yellow Handkerchief

    幸福の黄色いハンカチ

    1977 · 40 votes

  • Movie6.4

    Too Late the Hero

    1970 · 81 votes

  • Movie5.9

    Mr. Baseball

    1992 · 154 votes

  • Movie7.4

    47 Ronin

    四十七人の刺客

    1994 · 24 votes

  • Movie10.0

    The Longest Tunnel

    海峡

    1982 · 1 votes

  • Movie6.9

    The Bullet Train

    新幹線大爆破

    1975 · 72 votes

  • Movie6.4

    Station

    駅 STATION

    1981 · 14 votes

  • Movie7.2

    Antarctica

    南極物語

    1983 · 70 votes

  • Movie7.1

    Railroad Man

    鉄道員

    1999 · 45 votes

  • Movie5.1

    Golgo 13

    ゴルゴ13

    1973 · 17 votes

  • Movie7.1

    Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles

    千里走单骑

    2005 · 98 votes

  • Movie6.6

    Mount Hakkoda

    八甲田山

    1977 · 17 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Manhunt

    君よ憤怒の河を渉れ

    1976 · 24 votes

  • Movie7.4

    A Distant Cry from Spring

    遙かなる山の呼び声

    1980 · 30 votes

  • Movie7.5
  • Movie7.0

    The Revolt

    動乱

    1980 · 2 votes

  • Movie7.6

    Demon

    夜叉

    1985 · 7 votes

  • Movie7.5

    Jakoman and Tetsu

    ジャコ萬と鉄

    1964 · 4 votes

  • Movie7.3

    A Fugitive from the Past

    飢餓海峡

    1965 · 50 votes

  • Movie7.0

    The Biggest Gamble

    戦後最大の賭場

    1969 · 2 votes

  • Movie7.0

    All Rascals

    恋と太陽とギャング

    1962 · 1 votes

  • Movie8.1

    Wolves, Pigs & Men

    狼と豚と人間

    1964 · 10 votes

Series3

  • TV8.5

    SMAP×SMAP

    1996 · 2 votes

  • TV

    Older brother

    あにき

    1977

  • TV

    Korekara: Umibe no Tabibitotachi

    これから~海辺の旅人たち~

    1993