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