Ken Takakura
Age: N/A | From: Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka, Japan
Person Details
Birthday:
Aliases: Goichi Oda , 高仓健 , Кэн Такакура
Gender: Male
Place of birth: Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka, Japan
Homepage:
Movie Involvements: 79
TV Involvements: 2
Most Famous Work
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. 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.
Most Famous Work
Black Rain
(1989) Masahiro
Older brother
(1977) Eiji
The Yakuza
(1974) Tanaka Ken
The Bullet Train
(1975) Tetsuo Okita
Railroad Man
(1999) Otomatsu Sato
A Fugitive from the Past
(1965) Ajimura
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles
(2005) Gou-ichi Takata
Antarctica
(1983) UshiodaActing
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Self | |
| 2012 | Eiji Shimakura | |
| 2006 | Self (archive footage) | |
| 2005 | Gou-ichi Takata | |
| 2001 | Yamaoka Shuji | |
| 1999 | Otomatsu Sato | |
| 1996 | Bistro Guest | |
| 1995 | N/A | |
| 1994 | Kuranosuke Oishi | |
| 1993 | N/A | |
| 1992 | Uchiyama | |
| Tateishi Jiro | ||
| 1991 | N/A | |
| 1989 | Kadokura | |
| Masahiro | ||
| 1988 | N/A | |
| 1985 | Shuji | |
| 1983 | Eiji | |
| Ushioda | ||
| 1982 | Go Akutsu | |
| Detective Mikami | ||
| 1981 | Eiji Mikami | |
| 1980 | Kosaku Tajima | |
| Keisuke Miyagi | ||
| 1978 | Takeshi Ajisawa | |
| Hidetsugu Kano | ||
| 1977 | Eiji | |
| Yusaku Shima | ||
| Captain Tokushima | ||
| 1976 | Morioka | |
| 1975 | Masato Dan | |
| Tetsuo Okita | ||
| Ichiro Kozue | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1974 | Tanaka Ken | |
| Jokichi Anabuki | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1973 | Duke Togo / Golgo 13 | |
| Ryoichi Shimaya | ||
| Kazuo Taoka | ||
| 1972 | N/A | |
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| Kuramoto | ||
| 1971 | N/A | |
| N/A | ||
| Hidejiro Hanada | ||
| N/A | ||
| Isamu Tekada | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| Ryutaro Fudo | ||
| 1970 | N/A | |
| N/A | ||
| Koji Yashiro | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| Major Yamaguchi | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1969 | N/A | |
| Tsukuda Ginjiro | ||
| N/A | ||
| Saburo Aizawa | ||
| Shuzo Honjo | ||
| N/A | ||
| Shimada Seikichi | ||
| Kingoro Tamai | ||
| N/A | ||
| Koji Yashiro | ||
| Hanada Hidejiro | ||
| Shogo Hanaoka | ||
| 1968 | Katsuji Suehiro | |
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| Isamu Oba | ||
| Naoki Katagiri | ||
| N/A | ||
| Ken Kato | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1967 | Shin-ichi Tachibana | |
| N/A | ||
| Shin-ichi Tachibana | ||
| N/A | ||
| First Lieutenant Kenmochi | ||
| Ryuma Ibuki | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1966 | N/A | |
| Ichiro Takita | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1965 | Shin'ichi Tachibana | |
| Shinichi Tachibana | ||
| Seiji Terajima | ||
| Sasaki Kojiro | ||
| N/A | ||
| Shinichi Tachibana | ||
| Shinichi Tachibana | ||
| N/A | ||
| Ajimura | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1964 | N/A | |
| Jiro Kuroki, the second brother | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| Minami | ||
| Tetsu | ||
| N/A | ||
| Sasaki Kojiro | ||
| 1963 | Asano | |
| N/A | ||
| Sasaki Kojiro | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| Yoshio Harada | ||
| Sawagami | ||
| 1962 | N/A | |
| Yoshio Harada | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| Shuhei Tategami | ||
| Sukesaburo Sasa | ||
| Naomori | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1961 | Kosuke Kindaichi | |
| Kenichi Oka | ||
| Tarô Mannen | ||
| N/A | ||
| 'Smiley' Ken | ||
| N/A | ||
| Tarô Senpû | ||
| N/A | ||
| Kenichi Hanamura | ||
| 1960 | N/A | |
| Hari | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1959 | Captain Yamamoto | |
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| Fumio Sone | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1958 | Hiroshi Ishioka | |
| Ichitaro Kazamori | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1957 | Jiro Nakata | |
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| Yosuke Yamagami | ||
| Tani | ||
| 1956 | N/A | |
| Shintaro | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
