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.

Known For	Acting
Most Rating	6.363
Birthday	1931-02-16
Place of Birth	Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka, Japan
Also Known As	Goichi Oda, 高倉健 , 高仓健, Кэн Такакура,

The Longest Tunnel

The Yellow Handkerchief

47 Ronin

Never Give Up

The International Gang of Kobe

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles

The Bullet Train

Antarctica

Railroad Man

An Outlaw

Manhunt

A Distant Cry from Spring

Man of the World 2

Golgo 13

Mount Hakkoda

Station

Buddies

Dearest

Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 4

Brutal Tales of Chivalry 5: Man With The Karajishi Tattoo

Brutal Tales of Chivalry 7: Hell Is a Man's Destiny

Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 2

Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Lone Wolf

Demon

Brutal Tales of Chivalry

The Bullet and the Horse

Abashiri Prison

Wolves, Pigs & Men

All Rascals

Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: Forbidden Love

Winter's Flower

The Firefly

The Domain

The Homeless

Prison Boss

Choji Snack Bar

The Path of the King

The Revolt

Prison Walls of Abashiri 4

New Prison Walls of Abashiri

Devil's Nursery Rhyme

Four Hours of Terror

Flower, Storm and Gangster

Glorious Fights

365 Nights

Tales of President Mito

Outlaw Under a Blue Canopy

Patience Has An End

House of Gamblers

Brutal Tales of Chivalry 6

Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Traitor Shall Die

The Chivalrous Life

New Prison Walls of Abashiri 2

Prison Walls of Abashiri 3

Jakoman and Tetsu

A Story from Abashiri Prison—Duel in Snow Storm

The Domain: Flower and Dragon

New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Snowbound Deserter

The Drifting Avenger

New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stormy Cape

Yakuza of the Present

Third Generation Boss

Prison Walls of Abashiri, Part 2

Brothers Serving Time

The Escape

Man of the World

The Domain: Kanto Legends of Chivalry

Great Jailbreak

Lullaby for a Tough Guy

Storm Party

Employee Full of Fight

New Prison Walls of Abashiri: The Vagrant Comes to a Port Town

Japan's Top Gangster

Abashiri Prison: Duel in Hokkaido

The Boss

Abashiri Prison: Duel in the South

Abashiri Prison: Duel in the Snow Country

New Prison Walls of Abashiri: High Stakes at Abashiri

New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stray Wolf in Snow

New Abashiri Prison Story: Honor and Humanity, Ammunition That Attracts the Storm