Ken Takakura
Ken Takakura ( Japanese 高 倉 健 Takakura Ken ; born February 16, 1931 in Nakama , Fukuoka Prefecture as Gōichi Oda ( 小田 剛 一 Oda Gōichi ); † November 10, 2014 in Tokyo ) was a Japanese actor , known as "Japanese Clint Eastwood ".
Life
Takakura got to know firsthand life in the crime and gang wars of Japan's post-war era. As a young man he got used to a self-confident demeanor, which made life much easier for him in the middle of a prefecture controlled and contested by the yakuza . During his high school days he was active in a boxing club, as a student he was a member of an Aikido club.
In 1954 he graduated from the respectable Meiji University in Tokyo with a degree in commercial science and in 1955 he took part in a casting for the film company Studio Toei for fun . He made his film debut in 1956 in Fujio Tsudas Denkō Karate-uchi . Takakura's natural charisma and presence earned him additional roles within a few months, mainly in karate, detective and gangster films. In the following decades he developed into a sought-after actor in gangster and historical films . He was a frequent film partner of actress Hibari Misora . In 1963, Takakura appeared in three yakuza films and thus recommended himself as a yakuza actor in series. In particular, his stoic characterization of the main character in the series Abashiri Bangaichi (1965) established his role image as a silent loner, which was very popular in the 1970s.
He was also known in the West for roles in Yakuza (1974), Black Rain (1989) and Mr. Baseball (1992). He has worked with major directors such as Sydney Pollack , Ridley Scott and Zhang Yimou and has starred in over 200 films, including Taro and Jiro in Antarctica and Kon Ichikawa's historical film 47 Ronin .
He received high praise for his leading role in Zhang Yimou's film Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2005), even though he played a reclusive older man in this film rather than an action role. The role in the father-son relationship was written especially for Takakura by Zhang. After a six-year hiatus, Takakura returned to the big screen in Yasuo Furuhatas To You (Anata e) in 2012.
In 2006 Takakura was honored as a person with special cultural merits , in November 2013 he was then awarded the Order of Culture by the Japanese Emperor .
Takakura died in November 2014 at the age of 83 from complications from lymph node disease in a hospital in Tokyo.
Web links
- Ken Takakura in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Obituary for Ken Takakura in: Variety
Individual evidence
- ↑ Film review by San Diego Metropolitan Magazine ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ "Japan's Clint Eastwood" died. In: Wiener Zeitung of November 18, 2014 (accessed November 18, 2014).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Takakura, Ken |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 高 倉 健 (Japanese); Oda Gōichi (real name); Oda Goichi (real name); 小田 剛 一 (Japanese, real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Japanese actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 16, 1931 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nakama , Japan |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 10, 2014 |
| Place of death | Tokyo |