KT
Ken Takakura
Actor
Died November 10, 2014 (83 years)
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.
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
Filmography
| 2012 | Dearest · as Eiji Shimakura |
| 2005 | Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles · as Gou-Ichi Takata |
| 2001 | The Firefly · as Yamaoka Shuji |
| 1999 | Railroad Man · as Otomatsu Sato |
| 1996 | The World Heritage (TV Series) · as Narration |
| 1994 | 47 Ronin · as Kuranosuke Oishi |
| 1992 | Mr. Baseball · as Uchiyama |
| 1989 | Buddies · as Kadokura |
| 1989 | Black Rain · as Masahiro |
| 1988 | |
| 1985 | Yasha · as Shuji |
| 1983 | Choji Snack Bar · as Eiji |
| 1983 | Antarctica · as Ushioda |
| 1982 | Kaikyô · as Go Akutsu |
| 1982 | Keiji monogatari · as Detective Mikami |
| 1981 | Station · as Eiji Mikami |
| 1980 | A Distant Cry from Spring · as Kosaku Tajima |
| 1980 | Dôran · as Keisuke Miyagi |
| 1978 | Never Give Up · as Takeshi Ajisawa |
| 1978 | Winter's Flower · as Hidetsugu Kano |
| 1977 | The Yellow Handkerchief · as Yusaku Shima |
| 1977 | Hakkodasan · as Captain Tokushima |
| 1976 | Manhunt · as Morioka |
| 1976 | Wild Detective · as Cast |
| 1975 | Kobe Kokusai Gang · as Masato Dan |
| 1975 | Bullet Train · as Tetsuo Okita |
| 1975 | Great Jailbreak · as Ichiro Kozue |
| 1975 | |
| 1974 | The Yakuza · as Tanaka Ken |
| 1974 | The Homeless · as Jokichi Anabuki |
| 1974 | |
| 1973 | |
| 1973 | Gendai ninkyô-shi · as Ryoichi Shimaya |
| 1973 | Yamaguchi-gumi San-daime · as Kazuo Taoka |
| 1972 | |
| 1972 | |
| 1972 | |
| 1972 | |
| 1972 | Junko intai kinen eiga: Kantô hizakura ikka · as Kuramoto |
| 1971 | |
| 1971 | |
| 1971 | Showa zankyo-den: hoero karajishi · as Hidejiro Hanada |
| 1971 | |
| 1971 | Gorotsuki mushuku · as Isamu Tekada |
| 1971 | |
| 1971 | |
| 1970 | |
| 1970 | |
| 1970 | Saigo no tokkôtai · as Koji Yashiro |
| 1970 | |
| 1970 | |
| 1970 | Too Late the Hero · as Major Yamaguchi |
| 1970 | |
| 1970 | |
| 1969 | |
| 1969 | Gambler's Legacy · as Tsukuda Ginjiro |
| 1969 | |
| 1969 | Nihon ansatsu hiroku · as Saburo Aizawa |
| 1969 | Sengo Saidai no Toba · as Shuzo Honjo |
| 1969 | |
| 1969 | Chivalrous Geisha · as Shimada Seikichi |
| 1969 | Nihon kyokaku-den: hana to ryu · as Kingoro Tamai |
| 1969 | Red Peony Gambler: Second Generation Ceremony · as Koji Yashiro |
| 1969 | Shôwa zankyô-den: Karajishi jingi · as Hanada Hidejiro |
| 1969 | Red Peony Gambler 3: The Flower Cards Game · as Shogo Hanaoka |
| 1968 | Shin Abashiri Bangaichi · as Katsuji Suehiro |
| 1968 | |
| 1968 | |
| 1968 | Gorotsuki · as Isamu Oba |
| 1968 | Red Peony Gambler · as Naoki Katagiri |
| 1968 | The Drifting Avenger · as Ken Kato |
| 1968 | |
| 1967 | Abashiri bangaichi: Fubuki no tôsô · as Shin-Ichi Tachibana |
| 1967 | |
| 1967 | Abashiri bangai chi: Aku e no chôsen · as Shin-Ichi Tachibana |
| 1967 | |
| 1967 | Âa dôki no sakura · as First Lieutenant Kenmochi |
| 1967 | The Chivalrous Life · as Ryuma Ibuki |
| 1967 | |
| 1967 | |
| 1966 | |
| 1966 | |
| 1966 | |
| 1966 | |
| 1966 | |
| 1966 | |
| 1966 | |
| 1966 | |
| 1966 | |
| 1965 | Abashiri bangaichi: Hokkai hen · as Shin'ichi Tachibana |
| 1965 | Abashiri bangaichi: Bôkyô hen · as Shinichi Tachibana |
| 1965 | Brutal Tales of Chivalry · as Seiji Terajima |
| 1965 | Miyamoto Musashi V: Duel at Ganryu Island · as Sasaki Kojiro |
| 1965 | |
| 1965 | Zoku Abashiri bangaichi · as Shinichi Tachibana |
| 1965 | Abashiri Prison · as Shinichi Tachibana |
| 1965 | |
| 1965 | A Fugitive from the Past · as Ajimura |
| 1965 | |
| 1964 | Wolves, Pigs and People · as Jiro Kuroki, The Second Brother |
| 1964 | |
| 1964 | |
| 1964 | |
| 1964 | An Outlaw · as Minami |
| 1964 | Jakoman and Tetsu · as Tetsu |
| 1964 | Miyamoto Musashi IV: Duel at Ichijyo-ji Temple · as Sasaki Kojiro |
| 1964 | |
| 1963 | Gyangu Chûshingura · as Asano |
| 1963 | Miyamoto Musashi III: Birth of the Nito-ryu Style · as Sasaki Kojiro |
| 1963 | |
| 1963 | Ankokugai no kaoyaku: juichinin no gyangu · as Sawagami |
| 1962 | Tales of President Mito · as Sukesaburo Sasa |
| 1962 | Lady Sen and Hideyori · as Naomori |
| 1962 | |
| 1962 | |
| 1962 | |
| 1961 | Mannen Tarô to anego shain · as Tarô Mannen |
| 1961 | Hana to arashi to gyangu · as 'smiley' Ken |
| 1961 | Tenka no Kaidanji Senpû Tarô · as Tarô Senpû |
| 1960 | |
| 1960 | |
| 1960 | |
| 1959 | Kôdo nanasen metoru: kyôfu no yojikan · as Captain Yamamoto |
| 1959 | |
| 1958 | Kûchû circus: Arashi o yobu môjû · as Cast |
| 1958 | |
| 1958 | Hijô-sen · as Cast |
| 1958 | |
| 1957 | Men Fighting Whales · as Yosuke Yamagami |
| 1957 | Kujira to tatakau otoko · as Cast |
| 1957 | Employee Full of Fight · as Tani |
| 1957 | Kenka shain · as Cast |
| 1956 |