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 toughguy 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 Zankyoden Remnants of Chivalry in the Showa Era in which he played an honorable oldschool yakuza among the violent postwar 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 prewar and postwar Japan and these were Takakuras 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 excon 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 Scotts 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 CCBYSAfull list of contributors on Wikipedia
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