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.
201 acting credits
Acting · 201
SMAP×SMAP
1996
Black Rain
1989
Korekara: Umibe no Tabibitotachi
1993
Older brother
1977
The Bullet Train
1975
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Lone Wolf
1966
The Yellow Handkerchief
1977
Manhunt
1976
Mount Hakkoda
1977
Station
1981
Railroad Man
1999
47 Ronin
1994
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles
2005
The Yakuza
1974
The Chivalrous Life
1967
The Firefly
2001
An Elegy of Tyrole
1992
Memoir of Japanese Assassinations
1969
Antarctica
1983
A Fugitive from the Past
1965
Mr. Baseball
1992
Winter's Flower
1978
Yakuza of the Present
1973
The Revolt
1980
Miyamoto Musashi V: Musashi vs Kojiro
1965
Choji Snack Bar
1983
Never Give Up
1978
The Bullet and the Horse
1966
A Distant Cry from Spring
1980
Dearest
2012
The Last Kamikaze
1970
Brutal Tales of Chivalry
1965
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 2
1966
Third Generation Boss
1974
Miyamoto Musashi III: Birth of Two Sword Style
1963
Gang Loyalty and Vengeance
1963
Classmates
1967
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 5: Man With The Karajishi Tattoo
1969
The Escape
1962
Glorious Fights
1966
Karate Cop
1982
Lullaby for a Tough Guy
1972
Golgo 13
1973
Too Late the Hero
1970
The Great Road
1960
The Bastards of Lawless Town
1959
An Outlaw
1964
Great Jailbreak
1975
Eleven Gangsters
1963
Wolves, Pigs & Men
1964
The Longest Tunnel
1982
The Kanto Scarlet Cherry Gang
1972
Brave Red Flower of the North
1970
Demon
1985
With Songs in My Heart
1958
Miyamoto Musashi IV: The Duel at Ichijo-ji Temple
1964
Beyond the Seasonal Wind
1958
The International Gang of Kobe
1975
Red Peony Gambler: Flower Cards Game
1969
Buddies
1989
New Prison Walls of Abashiri
1968
Umi e, See You
1988
The Homeless
1974
The Domain: Kanto Legends of Chivalry
1965
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: The Vagrant Comes to a Port Town
1969
Ken San
2016
The Man
1971
The Domain: The Naniwa Story
1965
The Outsiders
1958
Abashiri Prison: Duel in Hokkaido
1967
Prison Walls of Abashiri 3
1965
Samurai Geisha
1969
The Happy Family
1959
Showdown in Blood
1957
The Domain: Where The Blade Enters
1967
Patience Has An End
1971
The Kamikaze Guy
1966
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 6
1969
The Domain: Kanda Festival Showdown
1966
Devil's Nursery Rhyme
1961
The Prickly-Mouthed Geisha Goes to Sado
1961
Prison Walls of Abashiri, Part 2
1965
Prison Walls of Abashiri 4
1965
Yukyo-retsuden
1970
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stormy Cape
1971
The Domain: Severed Relations
1968
Abashiri Prison
1965
Histories of the Chivalrous
1968
New Prison Walls of Abashiri 2
1969
The Domain: Flower and Dragon
1969
A Fishwife's Tale
1961
Gambler's Legacy
1969
The Japan Derby Race
1970
Japan's Top Gangster
1973
The Second Bullet is Marked
1960
Flower, Storm and Gangster
1961
The Sand City in Manchuria
1960
Tales of President Mito
1962
South Pacific Waves Are High
1962
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: High Stakes at Abashiri
1970
The Boss
1965
Uragirimono wa jigoku daze
1962
Red Peony Gambler: Second Generation Ceremony
1969
Rogue
1968
Bloodiest Flower
1971
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: Forbidden Love
1971
Abashiri Prison: Duel in the Snow Country
1966
Abashiri Prison: Duel in the South
1966
The Domain: Duel at Thunder Gate
1966
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 7: Hell Is a Man's Destiny
1970
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 3
1960
Four Hours of Terror
1959
The Drifting Avenger
1968
The detective whose path was crossed by a snake
1995
The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Whirlwind
1961
A Hoodlum At The Risk Of His Life
1970
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stray Wolf in Snow
1970
The Deep Blue Sea
1957
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 4
1967
Outlaw Under a Blue Canopy
1960
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Traitor Shall Die
1972
Man of Thirteen Eyes
1958
Romance Freestyle
1958
Life of Hishakaku
1963
House of Gamblers
1970
Feisty Edo Girl Nakanori-san
1961
Tokyo Gang vs. Hong Kong Gang
1964
Blackmail
1963
Dagger
1971
Hell's Companion
1959
New Abashiri Prison Story: Honor and Humanity, Ammunition That Attracts the Storm
1972
Delinquent Angel
1960
Gambler Biography
1968
The Counterfeiters
1959
No Advice Taken
1958
Monsoon Son Pt.2
1958
The Domain: White Blade
1967
A Story from Abashiri Prison—Duel in Snow Storm
1967
G-men of Japan 4: Special Armed Unit Mobilization
1956
Showdown of Men
1966
Sister with Sister
1958
Song of Kagoshima
1962
Red Peony Gambler
1968
The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Eternity
1960
The Day the Sun Rose
1968
Detective Duel
1958
Men Fighting Whales
1957
Midair Circus
1958
Monsoon Son
1958
Mother Peacock
1956
The Domain
1964
The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Rush
1960
Manchurian Sunset
1956
A Dead Drifter
1959
Lightning Karate Blow
1956
Jakoman and Tetsu
1964
Black Rain: Making The Film
2006
The Path of the King
1971
Hishakaku and Kiratsune: A Tale of Two Yakuza
1968
365 Nights
1962
Jet Air Base 101
1957
Operation Diamond
1962
Abashiri Prison: Challenge to the Evil
1967
Lady Sen and Hideyori
1962
If You're Man Enough
1960
A Man's Dark Finger
1959
Tokyo Untouchable: Escape
1963
Mannen Taro and His Feminine Colleagues
1961
All Rascals
1962
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 4
1961
Meteor Karate Strike
1956
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Snowbound Deserter
1971
The Chop Professor
1956
The Domain: Rising Dragon
1970
Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
1991
Prison Boss
1968
Main Street in the Underworld
1964
His Pistol is Hell
1958
Tokyo Untouchable
1965
続べらんめぇ芸者
1960
The Pledge
1972
Brothers Serving Time
1969
Hell's Juggler
1961
The Biggest Gamble
1969
Tokyo's Business District
1962
Employee Full of Fight
1957
The Big Boss
1963
Violent Street
1963
Code of Chivalry
1967
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha and the Girl of Osaka
1962
恐怖の空中殺人
1956
Path of Japanese Chivalry: Story of All-Out Attack
1975
Hell's Kitchen
1962
Storm Party
1964
Duel of the Underworld
1963
The Silent Murder
1959
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha Part 2
1960
A Portrait of the Author
1984
疑惑の夜
1959
Defeat the Boss
1963
Storming Squadron
1960