Cast

Ken Takakura

Acting

Cast

Ken Takakura

Known for

Acting

Born

1931-02-16

From

Nakama, Fukuoka, Japan

Died

2014-11-10

Also known as Goichi Oda, 高仓健, Кэн Такакура

Biography

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.

Ken Takakura

Ken Takakura

Biography

Hishakaku and Kiratsune: A Tale of Two Yakuza

The Pledge

Jakoman and Tetsu

Black Rain

Main Street in the Underworld

Duel of the Underworld

The Big Boss

The Biggest Gamble

All Rascals

Tokyo's Business District

Storm Party

The Prickly Mouthed Geisha Part 2

The Chop Professor

The Bullet Train

Station

Too Late the Hero

Path of Japanese Chivalry: Story of All-Out Attack

Demon

Flower, Storm and Gangster

Railroad Man

Choji Snack Bar

Night of the Suspicions

Hell's Juggler

Hell's Kitchen

Mount Hakkoda

A Fugitive from the Past

Manhunt

The Day the Sun Rose

The Yellow Handkerchief

Operation Diamond

Brothers Serving Time

Antarctica

Violent Street

Storming Squadron

Japan's Top Gangster

Mr. Baseball

The Yakuza

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles

Buddies

Tokyo Untouchable

The Longest Tunnel

Glorious Fights

Ken San

Abashiri Prison

Yakuza of the Present

Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 2

Brave Red Flower of the North

The Silent Murder

Dearest

Samurai Geisha

The Revolt

47 Ronin

Classmates

Wolves, Pigs & Men

Defeat the Boss

Third Generation Boss

Bloodiest Flower

Red Peony Gambler

A Distant Cry from Spring

Prison Walls of Abashiri 4

New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Snowbound Deserter

New Prison Walls of Abashiri 2

恐怖の空中殺人

Winter's Flower

Miyamoto Musashi IV: The Duel at Ichijo-ji Temple

Red Peony Gambler: Flower Cards Game

Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 4

Memoir of Japanese Assassinations

Karate Cop

Tokyo Gang vs. Hong Kong Gang

Brutal Tales of Chivalry 5: Man With The Karajishi Tattoo

The International Gang of Kobe

Uragirimono wa jigoku daze

Miyamoto Musashi V: Musashi vs Kojiro

The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Rush

Golgo 13

Prison Walls of Abashiri, Part 2