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