Ken Takakura
ActorView in FlikflixAll Movies & TV Shows
See All- DramaRiding Alone for Thousands of Miles
- ComedyMr. Baseball
- ActionThe Yakuza
- DramaMother Peacock
- ActionBlack Rain
- DocumentaryRobert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
- CrimeThe Bullet Train
- AdventureAntarctica
- DramaRailroad Man
- DramaA Distant Cry from Spring
- ComedyThe Yellow Handkerchief
- DramaBuddies
- Action47 Ronin
- ActionManhunt
- DramaChoji Snack Bar
- DramaDearest
- CrimeWinter's Flower
- DramaStation
- ActionGolgo 13
- ActionBrutal Tales of Chivalry
- DramaNever Give Up
- ActionContemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Traitor Shall Die
- CrimeDemon
- AdventureThe Longest Tunnel
- ActionContemporary Tales of Chivalry: Forbidden Love
- DramaThe Drifting Avenger
- DramaThe Domain
- ActionContemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Lone Wolf
- movieThe Domain: White Blade
- CrimeAbashiri Prison
- CrimeYakuza of the Present
- ActionContemporary Tales of Chivalry 2
- ActionContemporary Tales of Chivalry 4
- ActionPrison Boss
- DramaOlder brother
- DramaThe Revolt
- ActionPrison Walls of Abashiri 4
- ActionBrutal Tales of Chivalry 5: Man With The Karajishi Tattoo
- CrimeThe Chivalrous Life
- CrimeThe Bullet and the Horse
- CrimeAn Outlaw
- CrimeHouse of Gamblers
- CrimePrison Walls of Abashiri, Part 2
- ActionBrutal Tales of Chivalry 6
- moviePatience Has An End
- ActionThe International Gang of Kobe
- movieNew Prison Walls of Abashiri
- CrimeTokyo Untouchable
- ActionGlorious Fights
- DramaJakoman and Tetsu
- ActionBrutal Tales of Chivalry 7: Hell Is a Man's Destiny
- Drama365 Nights
- ActionA Story from Abashiri Prison—Duel in Snow Storm
- movieThe Outsiders
- movieStorm Party
- ActionOutlaw Under a Blue Canopy
- movieMain Street in the Underworld
- CrimeAll Rascals
- movieDagger
- ActionWolves, Pigs & Men
- CrimeFlower, Storm and Gangster
- ActionThe Domain: Flower and Dragon
- ActionFour Hours of Terror
- CrimeNew Prison Walls of Abashiri 2
- movieEmployee Full of Fight
- CrimeThird Generation Boss
- movieThe Domain: Duel at Thunder Gate
- movieHistories of the Chivalrous
- movieDenko karate uchi
- CrimeRogue
- CrimeTokyo aantachibiru: dasso
- movieThe Domain: Kanda Festival Showdown
- movieThe Domain: Where The Blade Enters
- MusicDevil's Nursery Rhyme
- CrimeNew Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stray Wolf in Snow
- movieLullaby for a Tough Guy
- CrimeNew Prison Walls of Abashiri: Snowbound Deserter
- CrimeNew Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stormy Cape
- ActionPrison Walls of Abashiri 3
- ComedyTales of President Mito
- DramaMan of the World 2
- CrimeNew Prison Walls of Abashiri: The Vagrant Comes to a Port Town
- DramaMount Hakkoda
- ActionGang Loyalty and Vengeance
- ActionMiyamoto Musashi V: Musashi vs Kojiro
- ActionRed Peony Gambler
- DramaThe Firefly
- ActionRed Peony Gambler: Flower Cards Game
- CrimeThe Homeless
- ActionThe Domain: Kanto Legends of Chivalry
- CrimeBrave Red Flower of the North
- CrimeSamurai Geisha
- ActionThe Path of the King
- CrimeThe Second Bullet is Marked
- DramaThe Deep Blue Sea
- CrimeAbashiri Prison: Duel in the Snow Country
- movieNew Abashiri Prison Story: Honor and Humanity, Ammunition That Attracts the Storm
- movieA Hoodlum At The Risk Of His Life
- CrimeThe Domain: The Naniwa Story
- ActionDetective Duel
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About
Ken Takakura
Actor
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.
Information
- Place of Birth
- Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka, Japan
- Known Credits
- 174