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.
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Known For
Black Rain
(1989)
Masahiro
The Yakuza
(1974)
Tanaka Ken
The Bullet Train
(1975)
Tetsuo Okita
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles
(2005)
Gou-ichi Takata
Mr. Baseball
(1992)
Uchiyama
Railroad Man
(1999)
Otomatsu Sato
Full Filmography
Acting
Mother Peacock
(1956)
The Chop Professor
(1956)
Denko karate uchi
(1956)
Manchurian Sunset
(1956)
Shintaro
G-men of Japan 4: Special Armed Unit Mobilization
(1956)
The Deep Blue Sea
(1957)
Jet Air Base 101
(1957)
Jiro Nakata
Employee Full of Fight
(1957)
Tani
Men Fighting Whales
(1957)
Yosuke Yamagami
Showdown in Blood
(1957)
No Advice Taken
(1958)
Romance Freestyle
(1958)
Detective Duel
(1958)
Sister with Sister
(1958)
Hiroshi Ishioka
With Songs in My Heart
(1958)
Beyond the Seasonal Wind
(1958)
Man of Thirteen Eyes
(1958)
The Outsiders
(1958)
Ichitaro Kazamori
Four Hours of Terror
(1959)
Captain Yamamoto
The Happy Family
(1959)
Men in a Rough Town
(1959)
Fumio Sone
A Dead Drifter
(1959)
Hell's Companion
(1959)
Man of the World 2
(1960)
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha Part 2
(1960)
The Sand City in Manchuria
(1960)
Hari
Outlaw Under a Blue Canopy
(1960)
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 3
(1960)
The Second Bullet is Marked
(1960)
Man of the World
(1960)
The Great Road
(1960)
Bad Angel
(1960)
If You're Man Enough
(1960)
Feisty Edo Girl Nakanori-san
(1961)
Kenichi Oka
Devil's Nursery Rhyme
(1961)
Kosuke Kindaichi
Flower, Storm and Gangster
(1961)
'Smiley' Ken
A Fishwife's Tale
(1961)
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 4
(1961)
Kenichi Hanamura
The Prickly-Mouthed Geisha Goes to Sado
(1961)
Hell's Juggler
(1961)
Tenka no Kaidanji Senpû Tarô
(1961)
Tarô Senpû
Mannen Taro and His Feminine Colleagues
(1961)
Tarô Mannen
All Rascals
(1962)
365 Nights
(1962)
The Prickly Mouthed Geisha and the Girl of Osaka
(1962)
Tales of President Mito
(1962)
Sukesaburo Sasa
Song of Kagoshima
(1962)
Shuhei Tategami
The Escape
(1962)
Lady Sen and Hideyori
(1962)
Naomori
Hell's Kitchen
(1962)
Operation Diamond
(1962)
Tokyo Untouchable
(1962)
Yoshio Harada
Tokyo's Business District
(1962)
South Pacific Waves Are High
(1962)
Uragirimono wa jigoku daze
(1962)
Eleven Gangsters
(1963)
Sawagami
Miyamoto Musashi: Birth of Two Sword Style
(1963)
Sasaki Kojiro
Life of Hishakaku
(1963)
Gang Loyalty and Vengeance
(1963)
Asano
The Big Boss
(1963)
Duel of the Underworld
(1963)
Tokyo Untouchable: Escape
(1963)
Yoshio Harada
Kyôkatsu
(1963)
An Outlaw
(1964)
Minami
Wolves, Pigs & Men
(1964)
Jiro Kuroki, the second brother
The Domain
(1964)
Jakoman and Tetsu
(1964)
Tetsu
Miyamoto Musashi: The Duel at Ichijo Temple
(1964)
Sasaki Kojiro
Storm Party
(1964)
Tokyo Gang Vs. Hong Kong Gang
(1964)
Main Street in the Underworld
(1964)
Miyamoto Musashi V: Musashi vs Kojiro
(1965)
Sasaki Kojiro
A Fugitive from the Past
(1965)
Ajimura
Brutal Tales of Chivalry
(1965)
Seiji Terajima
Abashiri Prison
(1965)
Shinichi Tachibana
Prison Walls of Abashiri 4
(1965)
Shin'ichi Tachibana
Prison Walls of Abashiri 3
(1965)
Shinichi Tachibana
Prison Walls of Abashiri, Part 2
(1965)
Shinichi Tachibana
The Domain: Kanto Legends of Chivalry
(1965)
The Boss
(1965)
The Domain: The Naniwa Story
(1965)
The Kamikaze Guy
(1966)
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 2
(1966)
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Lone Wolf
(1966)
The Bullet and the Horse
(1966)
Glorious Fights
(1966)
Ichiro Takita
Abashiri Prison: Duel in the South
(1966)
Abashiri Prison: Duel in the Snow Country
(1966)
Showdown of Men
(1966)
The Domain: Kanda Festival Showdown
(1966)
The Domain: Duel at Thunder Gate
(1966)
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 4
(1967)
Classmates
(1967)
First Lieutenant Kenmochi
The Chivalrous Life
(1967)
Ryuma Ibuki
A Story from Abashiri Prison—Duel in Snow Storm
(1967)
Shin-ichi Tachibana
Abashiri Prison: Duel in Hokkaido
(1967)
Abashiri Prison: Challenge to the Evil
(1967)
Shin-ichi Tachibana
The Domain: Where The Blade Enters
(1967)
The Domain: White Blade
(1967)
Red Peony Gambler
(1968)
Naoki Katagiri
Prison Boss
(1968)
The Day the Sun Rose
(1968)
New Prison Walls of Abashiri
(1968)
Katsuji Suehiro
Hishakaku and Kiratsune: A Tale of Two Yakuza
(1968)
The Drifting Avenger
(1968)
Ken Kato
The Domain: Severed Relations
(1968)
Histories of the Chivalrous
(1968)
Gambler Biography
(1968)
Rogue
(1968)
Isamu Oba
Red Peony Gambler: Flower Cards Game
(1969)
Shogo Hanaoka
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 5: Man With The Karajishi Tattoo
(1969)
Hanada Hidejiro
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 6
(1969)
New Prison Walls of Abashiri 2
(1969)
Samurai Geisha
(1969)
Shimada Seikichi
The Domain: Flower and Dragon
(1969)
Kingoro Tamai
Memoir of Japanese Assassinations
(1969)
Saburo Aizawa
Brothers Serving Time
(1969)
Gambler's Legacy
(1969)
Tsukuda Ginjiro
Red Peony Gambler: Second Generation Ceremony
(1969)
Koji Yashiro
The Biggest Gamble
(1969)
Shuzo Honjo
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: The Vagrant Comes to a Port Town
(1969)
Brave Red Flower of the North
(1970)
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 7: Hell Is a Man's Destiny
(1970)
Too Late the Hero
(1970)
Major Yamaguchi
The Last Kamikaze
(1970)
Koji Yashiro
House of Gamblers
(1970)
The Japan Derby Race
(1970)
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: High Stakes at Abashiri
(1970)
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stray Wolf in Snow
(1970)
The Domain: Rising Dragon
(1970)
A Hoodlum At The Risk Of His Life
(1970)
Yukyo-retsuden
(1970)
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: Forbidden Love
(1971)
Hidejiro Hanada
The Path of the King
(1971)
Ryutaro Fudo
Patience Has An End
(1971)
Isamu Tekada
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Snowbound Deserter
(1971)
New Prison Walls of Abashiri: Stormy Cape
(1971)
Bloodiest Flower
(1971)
Dagger
(1971)
The Man
(1971)
The Kanto Scarlet Cherry Gang
(1972)
Kuramoto
The Pledge
(1972)
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Traitor Shall Die
(1972)
Lullaby for a Tough Guy
(1972)
New Abashiri Prison Story: Honor and Humanity, Ammunition That Attracts the Storm
(1972)
Golgo 13
(1973)
Duke Togo / Golgo 13
Yakuza of the Present
(1973)
Ryoichi Shimaya
Japan's Top Gangster
(1973)
Kazuo Taoka
The Yakuza
(1974)
Tanaka Ken
The Homeless
(1974)
Jokichi Anabuki
Third Generation Boss
(1974)
The International Gang of Kobe
(1975)
Masato Dan
The Bullet Train
(1975)
Tetsuo Okita
Great Jailbreak
(1975)
Ichiro Kozue
Path of Japanese Chivalry: Story of All-Out Attack
(1975)
Manhunt
(1976)
Morioka
The Yellow Handkerchief
(1977)
Yusaku Shima
Mount Hakkoda
(1977)
Captain Tokushima
Never Give Up
(1978)
Takeshi Ajisawa
Winter's Flower
(1978)
Hidetsugu Kano
A Distant Cry from Spring
(1980)
Kosaku Tajima
The Revolt
(1980)
Keisuke Miyagi
Station
(1981)
Eiji Mikami
The Longest Tunnel
(1982)
Go Akutsu
Karate Cop
(1982)
Detective Mikami
Antarctica
(1983)
Ushioda
Choji Snack Bar
(1983)
Eiji
A Portrait of the Author
(1984)
Self
Demon
(1985)
Shuji
See You
(1988)
Black Rain
(1989)
Masahiro
Buddies
(1989)
Kadokura
Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
(1991)
Self (archive footage)
Mr. Baseball
(1992)
Uchiyama
47 Ronin
(1994)
Kuranosuke Oishi
The detective whose path was crossed by a snake
(1995)
Railroad Man
(1999)
Otomatsu Sato
The Firefly
(2001)
Yamaoka Shuji
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles
(2005)
Gou-ichi Takata
Black Rain: Making The Film
(2006)
Self (archive footage)
Dearest
(2012)
Eiji Shimakura
Ken San
(2016)
Self