Ken Takakura
Acting
Born February 16, 1931 · 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.
Films (195)
Ken San
2016
Dearest
2012
Black Rain: Making The Film
2006
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles
2005
The Firefly
2001
Railroad Man
1999
The detective whose path was crossed by a snake
1995
47 Ronin
1994
Mr. Baseball
1992
Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
1991
Buddies
1989
Black Rain
1989
Umi e, See You
1988
Demon
1985
A Portrait of the Author
1984
Choji Snack Bar
1983
Antarctica
1983
The Longest Tunnel
1982
Karate Cop
1982
Station
1981
A Distant Cry from Spring
1980
The Revolt
1980
Never Give Up
1978
Winter's Flower
1978
The Yellow Handkerchief
1977
Mount Hakkoda
1977
Manhunt
1976
The International Gang of Kobe
1975
The Bullet Train
1975
Great Jailbreak
1975
Path of Japanese Chivalry: Story of All-Out Attack
1975
The Yakuza
1974
The Homeless
1974
Third Generation Boss
1974
Golgo 13
1973
Yakuza of the Present
1973
Japan's Top Gangster
1973
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Traitor Shall Die
1972
New Abashiri Prison Story: Honor and Humanity, Ammunition That Attracts the Storm
1972
The Pledge
1972
Lullaby for a Tough Guy
1972
The Kanto Scarlet Cherry Gang
1972
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Snowbound Deserter
1971
The Man
1971
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: Forbidden Love
1971
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stormy Cape
1971
Patience Has An End
1971
Dagger
1971
Bloodiest Flower
1971
The Path of the King
1971
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stray Wolf in Snow
1970
The Domain: Rising Dragon
1970
The Last Kamikaze
1970
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 7: Hell Is a Man's Destiny
1970
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: High Stakes at Abashiri
1970
Yukyo-retsuden
1970
Too Late the Hero
1970
The Japan Derby Race
1970
A Hoodlum At The Risk Of His Life
1970
House of Gamblers
1970
Brave Red Flower of the North
1970
Gambler's Legacy
1969
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: The Vagrant Comes to a Port Town
1969
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 6
1969
Memoir of Japanese Assassinations
1969
New Prison Walls of Abashiri 2
1969
Samurai Geisha
1969
The Domain: Flower and Dragon
1969
Brothers Serving Time
1969
The Biggest Gamble
1969
Red Peony Gambler: Second Generation Ceremony
1969
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 5: Man With The Karajishi Tattoo
1969
Red Peony Gambler: Flower Cards Game
1969
New Prison Walls of Abashiri
1968
Gambler Biography
1968
The Day the Sun Rose
1968
Hishakaku and Kiratsune: A Tale of Two Yakuza
1968
Rogue
1968
Red Peony Gambler
1968
Histories of the Chivalrous
1968
The Drifting Avenger
1968
Prison Boss
1968
The Domain: Severed Relations
1968
A Story from Abashiri Prison—Duel in Snow Storm
1967
Code of Chivalry
1967
The Domain: Where The Blade Enters
1967
Abashiri Prison: Challenge to the Evil
1967
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 4
1967
Classmates
1967
The Chivalrous Life
1967
Abashiri Prison: Duel in Hokkaido
1967
The Domain: White Blade
1967
Abashiri Prison: Duel in the Snow Country
1966
Glorious Fights
1966
The Domain: Duel at Thunder Gate
1966
Abashiri Prison: Duel in the South
1966
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Lone Wolf
1966
Showdown of Men
1966
The Kamikaze Guy
1966
The Bullet and the Horse
1966
The Domain: Kanda Festival Showdown
1966
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 2
1966
Prison Walls of Abashiri 4
1965
Prison Walls of Abashiri 3
1965
Brutal Tales of Chivalry
1965
Miyamoto Musashi V: Musashi vs Kojiro
1965
The Domain: Kanto Legends of Chivalry
1965
Prison Walls of Abashiri, Part 2
1965
Abashiri Prison
1965
Tokyo Untouchable
1965
The Domain: The Naniwa Story
1965
A Fugitive from the Past
1965
The Boss
1965
Storm Party
1964
Wolves, Pigs & Men
1964
The Domain
1964
Main Street in the Underworld
1964
An Outlaw
1964
Jakoman and Tetsu
1964
Tokyo Gang vs. Hong Kong Gang
1964
Miyamoto Musashi IV: The Duel at Ichijo-ji Temple
1964
Gang Loyalty and Vengeance
1963
Blackmail
1963
Miyamoto Musashi: Birth of Two Sword Style
1963
Duel of the Underworld
1963
Defeat the Boss
1963
The Big Boss
1963
Life of Hishakaku
1963
Tokyo Untouchable: Escape
1963
Violent Street
1963
Eleven Gangsters
1963
Uragirimono wa jigoku daze
1962
Operation Diamond
1962
Hell's Kitchen
1962
365 Nights
1962
Tokyo's Business District
1962
Song of Kagoshima
1962
Tales of President Mito
1962
Lady Sen and Hideyori
1962
All Rascals
1962
The Escape
1962
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha and the Girl of Osaka
1962
South Pacific Waves Are High
1962
Devil's Nursery Rhyme
1961
Feisty Edo Girl Nakanori-san
1961
Mannen Taro and His Feminine Colleagues
1961
The Prickly-Mouthed Geisha Goes to Sado
1961
Flower, Storm and Gangster
1961
A Fishwife's Tale
1961
The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Whirlwind
1961
Hell's Juggler
1961
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 4
1961
If You're Man Enough
1960
Storming Squadron
1960
The Sand City in Manchuria
1960
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 3
1960
The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Rush
1960
Outlaw Under a Blue Canopy
1960
Delinquent Angel
1960
The Great Road
1960
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha Part 2
1960
続べらんめぇ芸者
1960
The Second Bullet is Marked
1960
The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Eternity
1960
The Counterfeiters
1959
Four Hours of Terror
1959
Hell's Companion
1959
A Dead Drifter
1959
A Man's Dark Finger
1959
The Happy Family
1959
The Bastards of Lawless Town
1959
Sister with Sister
1958
The Outsiders
1958
With Songs in My Heart
1958
Midair Circus
1958
Detective Duel
1958
His Pistol is Hell
1958
Beyond the Seasonal Wind
1958
Romance Freestyle
1958
Monsoon Son Pt.2
1958
Monsoon Son
1958
Man of Thirteen Eyes
1958
No Advice Taken
1958
Jet Air Base 101
1957
Showdown in Blood
1957
The Deep Blue Sea
1957
Men Fighting Whales
1957
Employee Full of Fight
1957
恐怖の空中殺人
1956
Mother Peacock
1956
Manchurian Sunset
1956
G-men of Japan 4: Special Armed Unit Mobilization
1956
The Chop Professor
1956
Lightning Karate Blow
1956
Meteor Karate Strike
1956