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.
Ken Takakura films playing now in Athens
Ken Takakura filmography
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
1995
47 Ronin
as Kuranosuke Oishi
Mr. Baseball
as Uchiyama
Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
as Self (archive footage)
Black Rain
as Masahiro
Buddies
as Kadokura
Umi e, See You
as Eiji Honma
Demon
as Shuji
A Portrait of the Author
as Self
Antarctica
as Ushioda
Choji Snack Bar
as Eiji
The Longest Tunnel
as Go Akutsu
Karate Cop
as Detective Mikami
Station
as Eiji Mikami
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Who is Ken Takakura?+
Ken Takakura was a prolific Japanese actor known for his stoic, brooding antihero portrayals, particularly within the 1960s and 70s yakuza film cycle.
What is Ken Takakura known for?+
He is recognized for career-defining roles in Abashiri Prison, The Yakuza, and Black Rain, as well as his late-career collaboration with Zhang Yimou in Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles.
What kind of work does Ken Takakura make?+
He was primarily a leading man in action-heavy genre films before pivoting to mature, restrained dramas in his later years.
Which studio is Ken Takakura associated with?+
He began his career at Toei Company, where he became the primary face of their popular postwar gangster film series. Follow Ken Takakura on Mood.
