Ken Takakura
Actor

Ken Takakura

1 Movies
1 Credits
Personal Info
Known For Acting
Known Credits 1
Birthday February 16, 1931 (95 years old)
Place of Birth Nakama, Fukuoka, Japan
Also Known As Goichi Oda, 高仓健, Кэн Такакура, کن تاکاکورا
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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.

Filmography (201)

Ken San 2016
Dearest 2012
Black Rain: Making The Film 2006
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles 2005
The Firefly 2001
Railroad Man 1999
SMAP×SMAP 1996
The detective whose path was crossed by a snake 1995
47 Ronin 1994
Korekara: Umibe no Tabibitotachi 1993
Mr. Baseball 1992
An Elegy of Tyrole 1992
Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star 1991
Black Rain 1989
Buddies 1989
Umi e, See You 1988
Demon 1985
A Portrait of the Author 1984
Antarctica 1983
Choji Snack Bar 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
Older brother 1977
Manhunt 1976
The Bullet Train 1975
The International Gang of Kobe 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
The Kanto Scarlet Cherry Gang 1972
The Pledge 1972
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Traitor Shall Die 1972
Lullaby for a Tough Guy 1972
New Abashiri Prison Story: Honor and Humanity, Ammunition That Attracts the Storm 1972
The Man 1971
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: Forbidden Love 1971
The Path of the King 1971
Patience Has An End 1971
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Snowbound Deserter 1971
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stormy Cape 1971
Bloodiest Flower 1971
Dagger 1971
Brave Red Flower of the North 1970
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 7: Hell Is a Man's Destiny 1970
Too Late the Hero 1970
The Last Kamikaze 1970
House of Gamblers 1970
The Japan Derby Race 1970
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: High Stakes at Abashiri 1970
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stray Wolf in Snow 1970
The Domain: Rising Dragon 1970
A Hoodlum At The Risk Of His Life 1970
Yukyo-retsuden 1970
Red Peony Gambler: Flower Cards Game 1969
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 5: Man With The Karajishi Tattoo 1969
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 6 1969
New Prison Walls of Abashiri 2 1969
Samurai Geisha 1969
The Domain: Flower and Dragon 1969
Memoir of Japanese Assassinations 1969
Brothers Serving Time 1969
Gambler's Legacy 1969
Red Peony Gambler: Second Generation Ceremony 1969
The Biggest Gamble 1969
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: The Vagrant Comes to a Port Town 1969
Rogue 1968
Red Peony Gambler 1968
Prison Boss 1968
The Day the Sun Rose 1968
New Prison Walls of Abashiri 1968
Hishakaku and Kiratsune: A Tale of Two Yakuza 1968
The Drifting Avenger 1968
The Domain: Severed Relations 1968
Histories of the Chivalrous 1968
Gambler Biography 1968
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 4 1967
Classmates 1967
The Chivalrous Life 1967
A Story from Abashiri Prison—Duel in Snow Storm 1967
Abashiri Prison: Duel in Hokkaido 1967
Abashiri Prison: Challenge to the Evil 1967
The Domain: White Blade 1967
The Domain: Where The Blade Enters 1967
Code of Chivalry 1967
The Kamikaze Guy 1966
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 2 1966
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Lone Wolf 1966
Glorious Fights 1966
The Bullet and the Horse 1966
Abashiri Prison: Duel in the South 1966
Abashiri Prison: Duel in the Snow Country 1966
Showdown of Men 1966
The Domain: Duel at Thunder Gate 1966
The Domain: Kanda Festival Showdown 1966
Tokyo Untouchable 1965
Miyamoto Musashi V: Musashi vs Kojiro 1965
A Fugitive from the Past 1965
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 1965
Abashiri Prison 1965
Prison Walls of Abashiri 4 1965
Prison Walls of Abashiri 3 1965
Prison Walls of Abashiri, Part 2 1965
The Domain: Kanto Legends of Chivalry 1965
The Boss 1965
The Domain: The Naniwa Story 1965
Tokyo Gang vs. Hong Kong Gang 1964
Main Street in the Underworld 1964
An Outlaw 1964
Wolves, Pigs & Men 1964
The Domain 1964
Jakoman and Tetsu 1964
Miyamoto Musashi IV: The Duel at Ichijo-ji Temple 1964
Storm Party 1964
Blackmail 1963
Tokyo Untouchable: Escape 1963
Eleven Gangsters 1963
Miyamoto Musashi III: Birth of Two Sword Style 1963
Life of Hishakaku 1963
Gang Loyalty and Vengeance 1963
The Big Boss 1963
Duel of the Underworld 1963
Defeat the Boss 1963
Violent Street 1963
Operation Diamond 1962
South Pacific Waves Are High 1962
Tokyo's Business District 1962
All Rascals 1962
Uragirimono wa jigoku daze 1962
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha and the Girl of Osaka 1962
365 Nights 1962
Tales of President Mito 1962
Song of Kagoshima 1962
The Escape 1962
Lady Sen and Hideyori 1962
Hell's Kitchen 1962
Mannen Taro and His Feminine Colleagues 1961
The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Whirlwind 1961
Flower, Storm and Gangster 1961
Devil's Nursery Rhyme 1961
A Fishwife's Tale 1961
Feisty Edo Girl Nakanori-san 1961
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 4 1961
The Prickly-Mouthed Geisha Goes to Sado 1961
Hell's Juggler 1961
If You're Man Enough 1960
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha Part 2 1960
The Sand City in Manchuria 1960
The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Rush 1960
Outlaw Under a Blue Canopy 1960
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 3 1960
The Second Bullet is Marked 1960
The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Eternity 1960
The Great Road 1960
続べらんめぇ芸者 1960
Delinquent Angel 1960
Storming Squadron 1960
A Dead Drifter 1959
Hell's Companion 1959
Four Hours of Terror 1959
The Happy Family 1959
The Bastards of Lawless Town 1959
A Man's Dark Finger 1959
The Counterfeiters 1959
The Silent Murder 1959
Night of the Suspicions 1959
The Outsiders 1958
With Songs in My Heart 1958
Romance Freestyle 1958
Sister with Sister 1958
Detective Duel 1958
No Advice Taken 1958
Beyond the Seasonal Wind 1958
Man of Thirteen Eyes 1958
Monsoon Son 1958
Monsoon Son Pt.2 1958
Midair Circus 1958
His Pistol is Hell 1958
Men Fighting Whales 1957
Showdown in Blood 1957
The Deep Blue Sea 1957
Jet Air Base 101 1957
Employee Full of Fight 1957
Manchurian Sunset 1956
G-men of Japan 4: Special Armed Unit Mobilization 1956
Lightning Karate Blow 1956
Mother Peacock 1956
The Chop Professor 1956
Meteor Karate Strike 1956
恐怖の空中殺人 1956