Ken Takakura

Known for ActingBorn 1931-02-16Died 2014-11-10Nakama, 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.Read more

Movies & web series

Umi e, See You

The Longest Tunnel

Path of Japanese Chivalry: Story of All-Out Attack

Lullaby for a Tough Guy

New Abashiri Prison Story: Honor and Humanity, Ammunition That Attracts the Storm

The Domain: Rising Dragon

The Domain: Flower and Dragon

The Domain: Severed Relations

The Domain: Where The Blade Enters

Tokyo Gang vs. Hong Kong Gang

Eleven Gangsters

The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 4

Karate Cop

A Hoodlum At The Risk Of His Life

Brutal Tales of Chivalry 6

A Story from Abashiri Prison—Duel in Snow Storm

Abashiri Prison: Challenge to the Evil

The Bullet and the Horse

The Domain: Kanda Festival Showdown

The Domain: Duel at Thunder Gate

Prison Walls of Abashiri 4

Storm Party

Tokyo Untouchable: Escape

Operation Diamond

The Prickly Mouthed Geisha Part 2

Beyond the Seasonal Wind

G-men of Japan 4: Special Armed Unit Mobilization

SMAP×SMAP

The Chivalrous Life

Wolves, Pigs & Men

Third Generation Boss

New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Snowbound Deserter

New Prison Walls of Abashiri: High Stakes at Abashiri

Brothers Serving Time

The Day the Sun Rose

Histories of the Chivalrous

Abashiri Prison: Duel in Hokkaido

The Domain: White Blade

Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Lone Wolf

Prison Walls of Abashiri, Part 2

Life of Hishakaku

Defeat the Boss

Lady Sen and Hideyori

If You're Man Enough

Outlaw Under a Blue Canopy

The Second Bullet is Marked

The Great Road

Choji Snack Bar