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Ken Takakura
Born · February 16, 1931
Died · November 10, 2014 (83 years old)
Known For: Acting
Place of Birth: Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka, Japan
Bio
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.
Ken San
Self
6.0
2016
Dearest
Eiji Shimakura
6.8
2012
Black Rain: Making The Film
Self (archive footage)
6.0
2006
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles
Gou-ichi Takata
7.2
2005
The Firefly
Yamaoka Shuji
7.0
2001
Railroad Man
Otomatsu Sato
7.0
1999
SMAP×SMAP
Bistro Guest · (1 episode)
8.5
1996
The detective whose path was crossed by a snake
0.0
1995
47 Ronin
Kuranosuke Oishi
7.5
1994
Korekara: Umibe no Tabibitotachi
(1 episode)
0.0
1993
Mr. Baseball
Uchiyama
5.8
1992
An Elegy of Tyrole
Tateishi Jiro · (2 episodes)
0.0
1992
Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
Self (archive footage)
7.0
1991
Buddies
Kadokura
6.8
1989
Black Rain
Masahiro
6.6
1989
See You
0.0
1988
Demon
Shuji
7.7
1985
A Portrait of the Author
Self
0.0
1984
Choji Snack Bar
Eiji
7.0
1983
Antarctica
Ushioda
7.2
1983
The Longest Tunnel
Go Akutsu
0.0
1982
Karate Cop
Detective Mikami
0.0
1982
Station
Eiji Mikami
6.1
1981
A Distant Cry from Spring
Kosaku Tajima
7.2
1980
The Revolt
Keisuke Miyagi
6.0
1980
Never Give Up
Takeshi Ajisawa
5.7
1978
Winter's Flower
Hidetsugu Kano
6.2
1978
Older brother
Eiji · (13 episodes)
0.0
1977
The Yellow Handkerchief
Yusaku Shima
6.8
1977
Mount Hakkoda
Captain Tokushima
6.8
1977
Manhunt
Morioka
6.5
1976
The International Gang of Kobe
Masato Dan
5.7
1975
The Bullet Train
Tetsuo Okita
6.7
1975
Great Jailbreak
Ichiro Kozue
7.0
1975
Path of Japanese Chivalry: Story of All-Out Attack
0.0
1975
The Yakuza
Tanaka Ken
7.1
1974
The Homeless
Jokichi Anabuki
7.5
1974
Third Generation Boss
0.0
1974
Golgo 13
Duke Togo / Golgo 13
4.5
1973
Yakuza of the Present
Ryoichi Shimaya
0.0
1973
Japan's Top Gangster
Kazuo Taoka
0.0
1973
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Traitor Shall Die
0.0
1972
New Abashiri Prison Story: Honor and Humanity, Ammunition That Attracts the Storm
0.0
1972
The Pledge
5.0
1972
Lullaby for a Tough Guy
0.0
1972
The Kanto Scarlet Cherry Gang
Kuramoto
6.0
1972
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Snowbound Deserter
0.0
1971
The Man
0.0
1971
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: Forbidden Love
Hidejiro Hanada
7.0
1971
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stormy Cape
5.0
1971
Patience Has An End
Isamu Tekada
5.7
1971
Dagger
0.0
1971
Bloodiest Flower
5.2
1971
The Path of the King
Ryutaro Fudo
6.0
1971
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stray Wolf in Snow
0.0
1970
The Domain: Rising Dragon
0.0
1970
The Last Kamikaze
Koji Yashiro
6.0
1970
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 7: Hell Is a Man's Destiny
6.0
1970
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: High Stakes at Abashiri
0.0
1970
Yukyo-retsuden
5.0
1970
Too Late the Hero
Major Yamaguchi
6.4
1970
The Japan Derby Race
0.0
1970
A Hoodlum At The Risk Of His Life
0.0
1970
House of Gamblers
7.0
1970
Brave Red Flower of the North
6.0
1970
Gambler's Legacy
Tsukuda Ginjiro
6.5
1969
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: The Vagrant Comes to a Port Town
6.0
1969
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 6
0.0
1969
Memoir of Japanese Assassinations
Saburo Aizawa
7.0
1969
The Biggest Gamble
Shuzo Honjo
7.0
1969
New Prison Walls of Abashiri 2
6.0
1969
Samurai Geisha
Shimada Seikichi
6.0
1969
The Domain: Flower and Dragon
Kingoro Tamai
0.0
1969
Brothers Serving Time
8.0
1969
Red Peony Gambler: Second Generation Ceremony
Koji Yashiro
6.2
1969
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 5: Man With The Karajishi Tattoo
Hanada Hidejiro
7.5
1969
Red Peony Gambler: Flower Cards Game
Shogo Hanaoka
7.0
1969
New Prison Walls of Abashiri
Katsuji Suehiro
6.0
1968
Gambler Biography
5.0
1968
The Day the Sun Rose
7.0
1968
Hishakaku and Kiratsune: A Tale of Two Yakuza
6.0
1968
Rogue
Isamu Oba
0.0
1968
Red Peony Gambler
Naoki Katagiri
7.2
1968
Histories of the Chivalrous
0.0
1968
The Drifting Avenger
Ken Kato
6.7
1968
Prison Boss
7.0
1968
The Domain: Severed Relations
0.0
1968
A Story from Abashiri Prison—Duel in Snow Storm
Shin-ichi Tachibana
0.0
1967
The Domain: Where The Blade Enters
0.0
1967
Abashiri Prison: Challenge to the Evil
Shin-ichi Tachibana
0.0
1967
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 4
6.2
1967
Classmates
First Lieutenant Kenmochi
6.5
1967
The Chivalrous Life
Ryuma Ibuki
7.0
1967
Abashiri Prison: Duel in Hokkaido
0.0
1967
The Domain: White Blade
0.0
1967
Abashiri Prison: Duel in the Snow Country
0.0
1966
Glorious Fights
Ichiro Takita
7.0
1966
The Domain: Duel at Thunder Gate
0.0
1966
Abashiri Prison: Duel in the South
0.0
1966
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Lone Wolf
6.0
1966
Showdown of Men
0.0
1966
The Kamikaze Guy
5.0
1966
The Bullet and the Horse
0.0
1966
The Domain: Kanda Festival Showdown
0.0
1966
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 2
7.0
1966
Prison Walls of Abashiri 4
Shin'ichi Tachibana
0.0
1965
Prison Walls of Abashiri 3
Shinichi Tachibana
0.0
1965
Brutal Tales of Chivalry
Seiji Terajima
7.1
1965
Miyamoto Musashi V: Musashi vs Kojiro
Sasaki Kojiro
7.3
1965
The Domain: Kanto Legends of Chivalry
6.0
1965
Prison Walls of Abashiri, Part 2
Shinichi Tachibana
6.0
1965
Abashiri Prison
Shinichi Tachibana
7.0
1965
The Domain: The Naniwa Story
3.2
1965
A Fugitive from the Past
Ajimura
7.5
1965
The Boss
0.0
1965
Storm Party
0.0
1964
Wolves, Pigs & Men
Jiro Kuroki, the second brother
8.3
1964
The Domain
5.8
1964
Main Street in the Underworld
5.8
1964
An Outlaw
Minami
4.8
1964
Jakoman and Tetsu
Tetsu
6.0
1964
Tokyo Gang Vs. Hong Kong Gang
0.0
1964
Miyamoto Musashi: The Duel at Ichijo Temple
Sasaki Kojiro
7.0
1964
Gang Loyalty and Vengeance
Asano
5.0
1963
Kyōkatsu
0.0
1963
Miyamoto Musashi: Birth of Two Sword Style
Sasaki Kojiro
7.0
1963
Duel of the Underworld
0.0
1963
The Big Boss
0.0
1963
Life of Hishakaku
8.0
1963
Tokyo Untouchable: Escape
Yoshio Harada
0.0
1963
Eleven Gangsters
Sawagami
0.0
1963
Uragirimono wa jigoku daze
0.0
1962
Operation Diamond
0.0
1962
Tokyo Untouchable
Yoshio Harada
0.0
1962
Hell's Kitchen
0.0
1962
365 Nights
0.0
1962
Tokyo's Business District
0.0
1962
Song of Kagoshima
Shuhei Tategami
0.0
1962
Tales of President Mito
Sukesaburo Sasa
0.0
1962
Lady Sen and Hideyori
Naomori
8.0
1962
All Rascals
0.0
1962
The Escape
7.0
1962
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha and the Girl of Osaka
0.0
1962
South Pacific Waves Are High
0.0
1962
Devil's Nursery Rhyme
Kosuke Kindaichi
0.0
1961
Feisty Edo Girl Nakanori-san
Kenichi Oka
0.0
1961
Mannen Taro and His Feminine Colleagues
Tarô Mannen
0.0
1961
The Prickly-Mouthed Geisha Goes to Sado
0.0
1961
Flower, Storm and Gangster
'Smiley' Ken
6.0
1961
A Fishwife's Tale
0.0
1961
Tenka no Kaidanji Senpū Tarō
Tarō Senpū
0.0
1961
Hell's Juggler
0.0
1961
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 4
Kenichi Hanamura
0.0
1961
If You're Man Enough
0.0
1960
The Sand City in Manchuria
Hari
6.5
1960
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 3
0.0
1960
Man of the World 2
0.0
1960
Outlaw Under a Blue Canopy
0.0
1960
Bad Angel
0.0
1960
The Great Road
0.0
1960
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha Part 2
0.0
1960
The Second Bullet is Marked
6.0
1960
Man of the World
0.0
1960
Four Hours of Terror
Captain Yamamoto
5.7
1959
Hell's Companion
0.0
1959
A Dead Drifter
0.0
1959
A Man's Dark Finger
0.0
1959
The Happy Family
0.0
1959
Men in a Rough Town
Fumio Sone
0.0
1959
Sister with Sister
Hiroshi Ishioka
0.0
1958
The Outsiders
Ichitaro Kazamori
0.0
1958
With Songs in My Heart
0.0
1958
Detective Duel
6.0
1958
Beyond the Seasonal Wind
0.0
1958
Romance Freestyle
0.0
1958
Man of Thirteen Eyes
0.0
1958
No Advice Taken
0.0
1958
Jet Air Base 101
Jiro Nakata
0.0
1957
Showdown in Blood
0.0
1957
The Deep Blue Sea
5.0
1957
Men Fighting Whales
Yosuke Yamagami
0.0
1957
Employee Full of Fight
Tani
4.0
1957
Mother Peacock
0.0
1956
Manchurian Sunset
Shintaro
0.0
1956
G-men of Japan 4: Special Armed Unit Mobilization
0.0
1956
The Chop Professor
0.0
1956
Lightning Karate Blow
0.0
1956
Meteor Karate Strike
0.0
1956