Ken Takakura
1931-02-16 ( 94 years old ) in Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka, Japan

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.

Movies

Ken San 2016-08-20
Dearest 2012-08-25
Black Rain: Making The Film 2006-10-10
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles 2005-12-22
The Firefly 2001-05-01
Railroad Man 1999-06-05
The detective whose path was crossed by a snake 1995-07-01
47 Ronin 1994-10-22
Mr. Baseball 1992-10-01
Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star 1991-03-10
Buddies 1989-11-03
Black Rain 1989-09-22
To the Sea, See You 1988-05-18
Demon 1985-08-31
A Portrait of the Author 1984-08-26
Choji Snack Bar 1983-11-12
Antarctica 1983-07-23
The Longest Tunnel 1982-10-16
Karate Cop 1982-04-17
Station 1981-11-07
A Distant Cry from Spring 1980-03-15
The Revolt 1980-01-15
Never Give Up 1978-10-07
Winter's Flower 1978-06-17
The Yellow Handkerchief 1977-09-30
Mount Hakkoda 1977-06-04
Manhunt 1976-02-11
The International Gang of Kobe 1975-10-14
The Bullet Train 1975-07-05
Great Jailbreak 1975-04-05
Path of Japanese Chivalry: Story of All-Out Attack 1975-01-15
The Yakuza 1974-12-21
The Homeless 1974-10-09
Third Generation Boss 1974-08-10
Golgo 13 1973-12-29
Yakuza of the Present 1973-10-27
Japan's Top Gangster 1973-08-11
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Traitor Shall Die 1972-12-30
New Abashiri Prison Story: Honor and Humanity, Ammunition That Attracts the Storm 1972-08-12
The Pledge 1972-07-30
Lullaby for a Tough Guy 1972-04-01
The Kanto Scarlet Cherry Gang 1972-03-04
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Snowbound Deserter 1971-12-29
The Man 1971-12-03
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: Forbidden Love 1971-10-27
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stormy Cape 1971-08-13
Patience Has An End 1971-06-25
Dagger 1971-04-28
Bloodiest Flower 1971-04-03
The Path of the King 1971-03-06
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stray Wolf in Snow 1970-12-30
The Domain: Rising Dragon 1970-12-03
The Last Kamikaze 1970-10-29
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 7: Hell Is a Man's Destiny 1970-09-22
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: High Stakes at Abashiri 1970-08-14
Yukyo-retsuden 1970-07-04
Too Late the Hero 1970-05-20
The Japan Derby Race 1970-05-13
A Hoodlum At The Risk Of His Life 1970-05-01
House of Gamblers 1970-03-29
Brave Red Flower of the North 1970-01-09
Gambler's Legacy 1969-12-27
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: The Vagrant Comes to a Port Town 1969-12-27
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 6 1969-11-07
Memoir of Japanese Assassinations 1969-10-16
New Prison Walls of Abashiri 2 1969-08-13
Samurai Geisha 1969-07-31
The Domain: Flower and Dragon 1969-05-31
Brothers Serving Time 1969-05-03
The Biggest Gamble 1969-04-19
Red Peony Gambler: Second Generation Ceremony 1969-04-10
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 5: Man With The Karajishi Tattoo 1969-03-06
Red Peony Gambler: Flower Cards Game 1969-02-01
New Prison Walls of Abashiri 1968-12-28
Gambler Biography 1968-12-28
The Day the Sun Rose 1968-11-23
Hishakaku and Kiratsune: A Tale of Two Yakuza 1968-10-25
Rogue 1968-10-12
Red Peony Gambler 1968-09-14
Histories of the Chivalrous 1968-08-01
The Drifting Avenger 1968-06-14
Prison Boss 1968-04-18
The Domain: Severed Relations 1968-02-22
A Story from Abashiri Prison—Duel in Snow Storm 1967-12-23
The Domain: Where The Blade Enters 1967-09-15
Abashiri Prison: Challenge to the Evil 1967-08-12
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 4 1967-07-08
Classmates 1967-06-03
The Chivalrous Life 1967-05-30
Abashiri Prison: Duel in Hokkaido 1967-04-20
The Domain: White Blade 1967-01-28
Abashiri Prison: Duel in the Snow Country 1966-12-31
Glorious Fights 1966-10-29
The Domain: Duel at Thunder Gate 1966-09-17
Abashiri Prison: Duel in the South 1966-08-13
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Lone Wolf 1966-07-09
Showdown of Men 1966-07-01
The Kamikaze Guy 1966-06-04
The Bullet and the Horse 1966-04-23
The Domain: Kanda Festival Showdown 1966-02-03
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 2 1966-01-13
Prison Walls of Abashiri 4 1965-12-31
Prison Walls of Abashiri 3 1965-10-31
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 1965-10-01
Miyamoto Musashi V: Musashi vs Kojiro 1965-09-04
The Domain: Kanto Legends of Chivalry 1965-08-12
Prison Walls of Abashiri, Part 2 1965-07-10
Abashiri Prison 1965-04-18
The Domain: The Naniwa Story 1965-01-30
A Fugitive from the Past 1965-01-15
The Boss 1965-01-03
Storm Party 1964-10-21
Wolves, Pigs & Men 1964-08-26
The Domain 1964-08-13
Main Street in the Underworld 1964-04-25
An Outlaw 1964-04-05
Jakoman and Tetsu 1964-02-08
Tokyo Gang vs. Hong Kong Gang 1964-01-01
Miyamoto Musashi: The Duel at Ichijo Temple 1964-01-01
Gang Loyalty and Vengeance 1963-10-20
Blackmail 1963-09-14
Miyamoto Musashi: Birth of Two Sword Style 1963-08-14
Duel of the Underworld 1963-07-13
The Big Boss 1963-04-12
Life of Hishakaku 1963-03-16
Tokyo Untouchable: Escape 1963-03-15
Eleven Gangsters 1963-01-15
Uragirimono wa jigoku daze 1962-12-23
Operation Diamond 1962-12-09
Tokyo Untouchable 1962-10-21
Hell's Kitchen 1962-10-12
365 Nights 1962-09-09
Tokyo's Business District 1962-08-29
Song of Kagoshima 1962-05-01
Tales of President Mito 1962-04-04
Lady Sen and Hideyori 1962-03-25
All Rascals 1962-03-21
The Escape 1962-03-14
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha and the Girl of Osaka 1962-02-07
South Pacific Waves Are High 1962-01-09
Devil's Nursery Rhyme 1961-11-15
Feisty Edo Girl Nakanori-san 1961-10-22
Mannen Taro and His Feminine Colleagues 1961-10-07
The Prickly-Mouthed Geisha Goes to Sado 1961-08-05
Flower, Storm and Gangster 1961-06-23
A Fishwife's Tale 1961-05-31
The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Whirlwind 1961-02-14
Hell's Juggler 1961-01-15
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 4 1961-01-09
If You're Man Enough 1960-11-29
The Sand City in Manchuria 1960-08-24
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 3 1960-08-07
The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Rush 1960-07-13
Outlaw Under a Blue Canopy 1960-05-10
Delinquent Angel 1960-03-15
The Great Road 1960-03-08
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha Part 2 1960-03-01
続べらんめぇ芸者 1960-03-01
The Second Bullet is Marked 1960-01-27
The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Eternity 1960-01-21
The Counterfeiters 1959-11-22
Four Hours of Terror 1959-09-30
Hell's Companion 1959-06-01
A Dead Drifter 1959-05-13
A Man's Dark Finger 1959-02-10
The Happy Family 1959-01-28
Men in a Rough Town 1959-01-28
Sister with Sister 1958-12-09
The Outsiders 1958-11-26
With Songs in My Heart 1958-09-10
Detective Duel 1958-08-06
Beyond the Seasonal Wind 1958-06-10
Romance Freestyle 1958-04-30
Man of Thirteen Eyes 1958-01-15
No Advice Taken 1958-01-03
Jet Air Base 101 1957-12-15
Showdown in Blood 1957-08-28
The Deep Blue Sea 1957-07-30
Men Fighting Whales 1957-07-09
Employee Full of Fight 1957-03-13
Mother Peacock 1956-12-05
Manchurian Sunset 1956-09-18
G-men of Japan 4: Special Armed Unit Mobilization 1956-07-25
The Chop Professor 1956-04-04
Lightning Karate Blow 1956-01-29
Meteor Karate Strike 1956-01-29

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