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.
Filmography · 197
SMAP×SMAP
1996 · Bistro Guest
Black Rain
1989 · Masahiro
The Bullet Train
1975 · Tetsuo Okita
Duel of the Underworld
1963
Tokyo's Business District
1962
All Rascals
1962
The Chop Professor
1956
Station
1981 · Eiji Mikami
The Big Boss
1963
Hishakaku and Kiratsune: A Tale of Two Yakuza
1968
Jakoman and Tetsu
1964 · Tetsu
Storm Party
1964
The Pledge
1972
The Biggest Gamble
1969 · Shuzo Honjo
Railroad Man
1999 · Otomatsu Sato
The Yakuza
1974 · Tanaka Ken
Main Street in the Underworld
1964
A Fugitive from the Past
1965 · Ajimura
Older brother
1977 · Eiji
The Yellow Handkerchief
1977 · Yusaku Shima
Too Late the Hero
1970 · Major Yamaguchi
Mr. Baseball
1992 · Uchiyama
Demon
1985 · Shuji
Ken San
2016 · Self
Manhunt
1976 · Morioka
Antarctica
1983 · Ushioda
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles
2005 · Gou-ichi Takata
Path of Japanese Chivalry: Story of All-Out Attack
1975
Operation Diamond
1962
Mount Hakkoda
1977 · Captain Tokushima
Prison Walls of Abashiri, Part 2
1965 · Shinichi Tachibana
Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
1991 · Self (archive footage)
Never Give Up
1978 · Takeshi Ajisawa
Black Rain: Making The Film
2006 · Self (archive footage)
A Distant Cry from Spring
1980 · Kosaku Tajima
Korekara: Umibe no Tabibitotachi
1993
Golgo 13
1973 · Duke Togo / Golgo 13
47 Ronin
1994 · Kuranosuke Oishi
Choji Snack Bar
1983 · Eiji
Violent Street
1963
Miyamoto Musashi IV: The Duel at Ichijo-ji Temple
1964 · Sasaki Kojiro
Night of the Suspicions
1959 · 久里 / 島
The Longest Tunnel
1982 · Go Akutsu
Defeat the Boss
1963
Dearest
2012 · Eiji Shimakura
Red Peony Gambler
1968 · Naoki Katagiri
Tokyo Untouchable
1965 · Yoshio Harada
The Revolt
1980 · Keisuke Miyagi
Karate Cop
1982 · Detective Mikami
Red Peony Gambler: Flower Cards Game
1969 · Shogo Hanaoka
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 5: Man With The Karajishi Tattoo
1969 · Hanada Hidejiro
Winter's Flower
1978 · Hidetsugu Kano
Buddies
1989 · Kadokura
Miyamoto Musashi V: Musashi vs Kojiro
1965 · Sasaki Kojiro
Wolves, Pigs & Men
1964 · Jiro Kuroki, the secon...
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Traitor Shall Die
1972
The Firefly
2001 · Yamaoka Shuji
Memoir of Japanese Assassinations
1969 · Saburo Aizawa
Samurai Geisha
1969 · Shimada Seikichi
Gambler's Legacy
1969 · Tsukuda Ginjiro
Brothers Serving Time
1969
The Deep Blue Sea
1957
Hell's Juggler
1961
The Man
1971
Hell's Kitchen
1962
Delinquent Angel
1960
Third Generation Boss
1974
Yakuza of the Present
1973 · Ryoichi Shimaya
Gang Loyalty and Vengeance
1963 · Asano
Glorious Fights
1966 · Ichiro Takita
Abashiri Prison
1965 · Shinichi Tachibana
Classmates
1967 · First Lieutenant Kenmo...
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Lone Wolf
1966
Prison Boss
1968
Bloodiest Flower
1971
Brutal Tales of Chivalry
1965 · Seiji Terajima
Umi e, See You
1988 · Eiji Honma
Prison Walls of Abashiri 4
1965 · Shin'ichi Tachibana
Abashiri Prison: Duel in Hokkaido
1967
The Kamikaze Guy
1966 · Fumio Kuroki
The Silent Murder
1959
恐怖の空中殺人
1956 · 島田寿夫
Storming Squadron
1960
The Last Kamikaze
1970 · Koji Yashiro
Lady Sen and Hideyori
1962 · Naomori
Tokyo Gang vs. Hong Kong Gang
1964
Brave Red Flower of the North
1970
The Kanto Scarlet Cherry Gang
1972 · Kuramoto
Gambler Biography
1968
The Second Bullet is Marked
1960
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 7: Hell Is a Man's Destiny
1970
The Bastards of Lawless Town
1959 · Fumio Sone
Japan's Top Gangster
1973 · Kazuo Taoka
Miyamoto Musashi III: Birth of Two Sword Style
1963 · Sasaki Kojiro
The Drifting Avenger
1968 · Ken Kato
The Outsiders
1958 · Ichitaro Kazamori
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 2
1966
The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Eternity
1960
The Happy Family
1959
Eleven Gangsters
1963 · Sawagami
The Sand City in Manchuria
1960 · Hari
The Domain: Flower and Dragon
1969 · Kingoro Tamai
Yukyo-retsuden
1970
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: Forbidden Love
1971 · Hidejiro Hanada
An Outlaw
1964 · Minami
Devil's Nursery Rhyme
1961 · Kosuke Kindaichi
House of Gamblers
1970
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: High Stakes at Abashiri
1970
The Escape
1962
Man of Thirteen Eyes
1958
The International Gang of Kobe
1975 · Masato Dan
An Elegy of Tyrole
1992 · Tateishi Jiro
Sister with Sister
1958 · Hiroshi Ishioka
Patience Has An End
1971 · Isamu Tekada
The Chivalrous Life
1967 · Ryuma Ibuki
Prison Walls of Abashiri 3
1965 · Shinichi Tachibana
With Songs in My Heart
1958
Red Peony Gambler: Second Generation Ceremony
1969 · Koji Yashiro
The Domain: Kanto Legends of Chivalry
1965
The Domain: Duel at Thunder Gate
1966
Four Hours of Terror
1959 · Captain Yamamoto
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: The Vagrant Comes to a Port Town
1969
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 4
1967
Blackmail
1963
South Pacific Waves Are High
1962
The Great Road
1960
New Prison Walls of Abashiri 2
1969
A Story from Abashiri Prison—Duel in Snow Storm
1967 · Shin-ichi Tachibana
A Hoodlum At The Risk Of His Life
1970
Meteor Karate Strike
1956
The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Whirlwind
1961 · Tarō Senpū
Tales of President Mito
1962 · Sukesaburo Sasa
Abashiri Prison: Duel in the Snow Country
1966
Code of Chivalry
1967
The Domain: White Blade
1967
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 6
1969
The Path of the King
1971 · Ryutaro Fudo
Lullaby for a Tough Guy
1972
New Abashiri Prison Story: Honor and Humanity, Ammunition That Attracts the Storm
1972
Life of Hishakaku
1963
The Domain
1964
New Prison Walls of Abashiri
1968 · Katsuji Suehiro
The detective whose path was crossed by a snake
1995
The Japan Derby Race
1970
Abashiri Prison: Challenge to the Evil
1967 · Shin-ichi Tachibana
The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Rush
1960
Uragirimono wa jigoku daze
1962
The Counterfeiters
1959
続べらんめぇ芸者
1960
The Domain: Where The Blade Enters
1967
A Man's Dark Finger
1959
No Advice Taken
1958
Jet Air Base 101
1957 · Jiro Nakata
The Domain: Kanda Festival Showdown
1966
The Boss
1965
Feisty Edo Girl Nakanori-san
1961 · Kenichi Oka
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha and the Girl of Osaka
1962
The Domain: The Naniwa Story
1965
Showdown in Blood
1957
Histories of the Chivalrous
1968
Outlaw Under a Blue Canopy
1960
A Fishwife's Tale
1961
Rogue
1968 · Isamu Oba
Manchurian Sunset
1956 · Shintaro
Showdown of Men
1966
G-men of Japan 4: Special Armed Unit Mobilization
1956
Dagger
1971
The Homeless
1974 · Jokichi Anabuki
365 Nights
1962
A Dead Drifter
1959
The Bullet and the Horse
1966
Hell's Companion
1959
Flower, Storm and Gangster
1961 · 'Smiley' Ken
Great Jailbreak
1975 · Ichiro Kozue
Midair Circus
1958
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Snowbound Deserter
1971
Monsoon Son Pt.2
1958
The Domain: Rising Dragon
1970
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stormy Cape
1971
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stray Wolf in Snow
1970
Mother Peacock
1956
Tokyo Untouchable: Escape
1963 · Yoshio Harada
Beyond the Seasonal Wind
1958
Men Fighting Whales
1957 · Yosuke Yamagami
The Prickly-Mouthed Geisha Goes to Sado
1961
His Pistol is Hell
1958
Abashiri Prison: Duel in the South
1966
Monsoon Son
1958
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 3
1960
Lightning Karate Blow
1956
Detective Duel
1958
If You're Man Enough
1960
Mannen Taro and His Feminine Colleagues
1961 · Tarô Mannen
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 4
1961 · Kenichi Hanamura
The Domain: Severed Relations
1968
Song of Kagoshima
1962 · Shuhei Tategami
A Portrait of the Author
1984 · Self