Ken Takakura

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.

Known For: Acting

Born: Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka, Japan, 1931-02-16

Died: 2014-11-10

Film

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1956	Lightning Karate Blow		0
2	1956	Meteor Karate Strike		0
3	1956	The Chop Professor		0
4	1956	G-men of Japan 4: Special Armed Unit Mobilization		0
5	1956	Manchurian Sunset	Shintaro	0
6	1956	Mother Peacock		0
7	1957	Employee Full of Fight	Tani	40
8	1957	Men Fighting Whales	Yosuke Yamagami	0
9	1957	The Deep Blue Sea		50
10	1957	Showdown in Blood		0
11	1957	Jet Air Base 101	Jiro Nakata	0
12	1958	No Advice Taken		0
13	1958	Man of Thirteen Eyes		0
14	1958	Romance Freestyle		0
15	1958	Beyond the Seasonal Wind		0
16	1958	Detective Duel		60
17	1958	With Songs in My Heart		0
18	1958	The Outsiders	Ichitaro Kazamori	0
19	1958	Sister with Sister	Hiroshi Ishioka	0
20	1959	The Happy Family		0
21	1959	Men in a Rough Town	Fumio Sone	0
22	1959	A Man's Dark Finger		0
23	1959	A Dead Drifter		0
24	1959	Hell's Companion		0
25	1959	Four Hours of Terror	Captain Yamamoto	57
26	1960	Man of the World		0
27	1960	The Second Bullet is Marked		60
28	1960	The Prickly Mouthed Geisha Part 2		0
29	1960	The Great Road		0
30	1960	Delinquent Angel		0
31	1960	Outlaw Under a Blue Canopy		0
32	1960	Man of the World 2		0
33	1960	The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 3		0
34	1960	The Sand City in Manchuria	Hari	65
35	1960	If You're Man Enough		0
36	1961	The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 4	Kenichi Hanamura	0
37	1961	Hell's Juggler		0
38	1961	Tenka no Kaidanji Senpū Tarō	Tarō Senpū	0
39	1961	A Fishwife's Tale		0
40	1961	Flower, Storm and Gangster	'Smiley' Ken	60
41	1961	The Prickly-Mouthed Geisha Goes to Sado		0
42	1961	Mannen Taro and His Feminine Colleagues	Tarô Mannen	0
43	1961	Feisty Edo Girl Nakanori-san	Kenichi Oka	0
44	1961	Devil's Nursery Rhyme	Kosuke Kindaichi	0
45	1962	South Pacific Waves Are High		0
46	1962	The Prickly Mouthed Geisha and the Girl of Osaka		0
47	1962	The Escape		70
48	1962	All Rascals		0
49	1962	Lady Sen and Hideyori	Naomori	80
50	1962	Tales of President Mito	Sukesaburo Sasa	0
51	1962	Song of Kagoshima	Shuhei Tategami	0
52	1962	Tokyo's Business District		0
53	1962	365 Nights		0
54	1962	Hell's Kitchen		0
55	1962	Tokyo Untouchable	Yoshio Harada	0
56	1962	Operation Diamond		0
57	1962	Uragirimono wa jigoku daze		0
58	1963	Eleven Gangsters	Sawagami	0
59	1963	Tokyo Untouchable: Escape	Yoshio Harada	0
60	1963	Life of Hishakaku		80
61	1963	The Big Boss		0
62	1963	Duel of the Underworld		0
63	1963	Miyamoto Musashi: Birth of Two Sword Style	Sasaki Kojiro	70
64	1963	Blackmail		0
65	1963	Gang Loyalty and Vengeance	Asano	50
66	1964	Tokyo Gang vs. Hong Kong Gang		0
67	1964	Miyamoto Musashi: The Duel at Ichijo Temple	Sasaki Kojiro	70
68	1964	Jakoman and Tetsu	Tetsu	60
69	1964	An Outlaw	Minami	48
70	1964	Main Street in the Underworld		60
71	1964	The Domain		58
72	1964	Wolves, Pigs & Men	Jiro Kuroki, the second brother	81
73	1964	Storm Party		0
74	1965	The Boss		0
75	1965	A Fugitive from the Past	Ajimura	75
76	1965	The Domain: The Naniwa Story		32
77	1965	Abashiri Prison	Shinichi Tachibana	71
78	1965	Prison Walls of Abashiri, Part 2	Shinichi Tachibana	60
79	1965	The Domain: Kanto Legends of Chivalry		60
80	1965	Miyamoto Musashi V: Musashi vs Kojiro	Sasaki Kojiro	73
81	1965	Brutal Tales of Chivalry	Seiji Terajima	71
82	1965	Prison Walls of Abashiri 3	Shinichi Tachibana	0
83	1965	Prison Walls of Abashiri 4	Shin'ichi Tachibana	0
84	1966	Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 2		70
85	1966	The Domain: Kanda Festival Showdown		0
86	1966	The Bullet and the Horse		0
87	1966	The Kamikaze Guy	Fumio Kuroki	50
88	1966	Showdown of Men		0
89	1966	Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Lone Wolf		60
90	1966	Abashiri Prison: Duel in the South		0
91	1966	The Domain: Duel at Thunder Gate		0
92	1966	Glorious Fights	Ichiro Takita	70
93	1966	Abashiri Prison: Duel in the Snow Country		0
94	1967	The Domain: White Blade		0
95	1967	Abashiri Prison: Duel in Hokkaido		0
96	1967	The Chivalrous Life	Ryuma Ibuki	70
97	1967	Classmates	First Lieutenant Kenmochi	65
98	1967	Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 4		62
99	1967	Abashiri Prison: Challenge to the Evil	Shin-ichi Tachibana	0
100	1967	The Domain: Where The Blade Enters		0
101	1967	A Story from Abashiri Prison—Duel in Snow Storm	Shin-ichi Tachibana	0
102	1968	The Domain: Severed Relations		0
103	1968	Prison Boss		70
104	1968	The Drifting Avenger	Ken Kato	67
105	1968	Histories of the Chivalrous		0
106	1968	Red Peony Gambler	Naoki Katagiri	72
107	1968	Rogue	Isamu Oba	0
108	1968	Hishakaku and Kiratsune: A Tale of Two Yakuza		60
109	1968	The Day the Sun Rose		70
110	1968	New Prison Walls of Abashiri	Katsuji Suehiro	60
111	1968	Gambler Biography		50
112	1969	Red Peony Gambler: Flower Cards Game	Shogo Hanaoka	70
113	1969	Brutal Tales of Chivalry 5: Man With The Karajishi Tattoo	Hanada Hidejiro	75
114	1969	Red Peony Gambler: Second Generation Ceremony	Koji Yashiro	62
115	1969	The Biggest Gamble	Shuzo Honjo	70
116	1969	Brothers Serving Time		80
117	1969	The Domain: Flower and Dragon	Kingoro Tamai	0
118	1969	Samurai Geisha	Shimada Seikichi	60
119	1969	New Prison Walls of Abashiri 2		60
120	1969	Memoir of Japanese Assassinations	Saburo Aizawa	70
121	1969	Brutal Tales of Chivalry 6		0
122	1969	Gambler's Legacy	Tsukuda Ginjiro	65
123	1969	New Prison Walls of Abashiri: The Vagrant Comes to a Port Town		60
124	1970	Brave Red Flower of the North		60
125	1970	House of Gamblers		70
126	1970	A Hoodlum At The Risk Of His Life		0
127	1970	The Japan Derby Race		0
128	1970	Too Late the Hero	Major Yamaguchi	65
129	1970	Yukyo-retsuden		50
130	1970	New Prison Walls of Abashiri: High Stakes at Abashiri		0
131	1970	Brutal Tales of Chivalry 7: Hell Is a Man's Destiny		60
132	1970	The Last Kamikaze	Koji Yashiro	60
133	1970	The Domain: Rising Dragon		0
134	1970	New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stray Wolf in Snow		0
135	1971	The Path of the King	Ryutaro Fudo	60
136	1971	Bloodiest Flower		52
137	1971	Dagger		0
138	1971	Patience Has An End	Isamu Tekada	57
139	1971	New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stormy Cape		50
140	1971	Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: Forbidden Love	Hidejiro Hanada	70
141	1971	The Man		0
142	1971	New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Snowbound Deserter		0
143	1972	The Kanto Scarlet Cherry Gang	Kuramoto	60
144	1972	Lullaby for a Tough Guy		0
145	1972	The Pledge		50
146	1972	New Abashiri Prison Story: Honor and Humanity, Ammunition That Attracts the Storm		0
147	1972	Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Traitor Shall Die		0
148	1973	Japan's Top Gangster	Kazuo Taoka	0
149	1973	Yakuza of the Present	Ryoichi Shimaya	0
150	1973	Golgo 13	Duke Togo / Golgo 13	49
151	1974	Third Generation Boss		0
152	1974	The Homeless	Jokichi Anabuki	75
153	1974	The Yakuza	Tanaka Ken	71
154	1975	Path of Japanese Chivalry: Story of All-Out Attack		0
155	1975	Great Jailbreak	Ichiro Kozue	70
156	1975	The Bullet Train	Tetsuo Okita	68
157	1975	The International Gang of Kobe	Masato Dan	57
158	1976	Manhunt	Morioka	65
159	1977	Mount Hakkoda	Captain Tokushima	64
160	1977	The Yellow Handkerchief	Yusaku Shima	68
161	1978	Winter's Flower	Hidetsugu Kano	62
162	1978	Never Give Up	Takeshi Ajisawa	57
163	1980	The Revolt	Keisuke Miyagi	60
164	1980	A Distant Cry from Spring	Kosaku Tajima	72
165	1981	Station	Eiji Mikami	61
166	1982	Karate Cop	Detective Mikami	0
167	1982	The Longest Tunnel	Go Akutsu	0
168	1983	Antarctica	Ushioda	73
169	1983	Choji Snack Bar	Eiji	70
170	1984	A Portrait of the Author	Self	0
171	1985	Demon	Shuji	77
172	1988	To the Sea, See You	Eiji Honma	0
173	1989	Black Rain	Masahiro	66
174	1989	Buddies	Kadokura	68
175	1991	Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star	Self (archive footage)	70
176	1992	Mr. Baseball	Uchiyama	59
177	1994	47 Ronin	Kuranosuke Oishi	75
178	1995	The detective whose path was crossed by a snake		0
179	1999	Railroad Man	Otomatsu Sato	70
180	2001	The Firefly	Yamaoka Shuji	70
181	2005	Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles	Gou-ichi Takata	72
182	2006	Black Rain: Making The Film	Self (archive footage)	60
183	2012	Dearest	Eiji Shimakura	68
184	2016	Ken San	Self	60

Television

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1977	Older brother	Eiji	0
2	1992	An Elegy of Tyrole	Tateishi Jiro	0
3	1993	Korekara: Umibe no Tabibitotachi		0
4	1996	SMAP×SMAP	Bistro Guest	85