tempobet yeni adresi
like this news item

NEWS Japanese Actor Ken Takakura Dies at 83

Japanese Actor Ken Takakura Dies at 83

18th of November 2014, 18:57

Ken Takakura, who first rose to stardom in the 1960s playing yakuza outlaws, but later became Hollywood’s go-to actor for made-in-Japan films, died on Nov. 10 at age 83 of malignant lymphoma. A private funeral had already been held when the Japanese media broke the story today.

The legendary actor most recently starred in “Dearest” and Zhang Yimou’s “Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles.” Western audiences best know Takakura for his roles in Ridley Scott’s “Black Rain” and 1992′s “Mr. Baseball.”

Born on Feb. 16, 1931 in Fukuoka, Japan, Takakura entered the Toei studio in 1955 after graduating from Meiji University. His breakout role was as an escaped prisoner in Teruo Ishii’s 1965 hit “Abashiri Prison,” which was loosely based on Stanley Kramer’s 1958 “The Defiant Ones.” The film spawned a long-running series, while Takakura churned out hit after hit for Toei in the remainder of the decade and beyond. Usually playing stoic loners who move into action only after repeated provocations, Takakura became an iconic figure for a generation of Japanese moviegoers, much as Clint Eastwood did in Hollywood.

Takakura played a version of this character in Sydney Pollack’s 1974 “The Yakuza,” with a script co-written by yakuza movie aficionado Leonard Schrader, together with Pollack and Robert Towne. By this time, however, Japanese moviegoers had tired of Takakura’s brand of gang actioner, whose good guys followed a code of yakuza chivalry routinely disregarded by the more realistic hoods of Kinji Fukasaku’s popular 1973 “Battles without Honor and Humanity” and its sequels.

Even before leaving Toei in 1976 Takakura had begun moving away from his signature yakuza genre, playing a bankrupt-businessman-turned-extortionist in the 1975 Junya Sato thriller “The Bullet Train.” In the remainder of the 1970s and after he appeared in a succession of starring roles, including an ex-con journeying to reunite with his wife in Yoji Yamada’s 1977 hit “The Yellow Handkerchief.” Based on a story by Pete Hamill, the film was remade as a 2008 film of the same title by Udayan Prasad, with William Hurt starring in the Takakura role. Takakura also played a veteran dog handler in the 1983 Koreyoshi Kurahara smash “Antarctica,” which set a record as the highest-earning Japanese film of all-time that was only surpassed by Hayao Miyazaki’s animation “Princess Mononoke” in 1997. “Antarctica” was remade as the 2006 “Eight Below,” with Frank Marshall directing.

In 1989 Takakura appeared in “Black Rain” as a forbearing Japanese cop assigned to deal with Michael Douglas’s hot-tempered detective, who is after an escaped yakuza played by Yusaku Matsuda. He followed with a similar role as a pro baseball manager dealing with Tom Selleck’s spoiled former major leaguer in the 1992 Fred Schepisi comedy “Mr. Baseball.”

After the turn of the millennium, Takakura appeared only in a handful films, including 2005′s “Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles” and his 205th and last film, Yasuo Furuhata’s 2012 “Dearest,” playing a retired prison counselor making a journey of remembrance to the port where his deceased wife was born.

From 1959 until their divorce in 1971 Takakura was married to singer Chiemi Eri, but they had no children.

Source: Variety



NEWS Japanese Actor Ken Takakura Dies at 83

Music reviews

09
10
NERO/GRIS
Silenci
07
10
SUBATOMIC STRANGERS
Resuwrecked
01
10
BLOKKONTROLL
I-II-III
28
09
SUNSHINE BLIND
Scarred but Fearless
27
09
DARK MINIMAL PROJECT
Pleasure Is A Sin
26
09
PROMENADE CINEMA
Afterlife

NEWSLETTER

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

NEWS

14
10
43 years of “Wahre Arbeit, Wahrer Lohn” by Die Krupps: A Blueprint for Industrial Resistance
09
10
Baby Turns Blue and 43 today!
03
10
BIMFEST XXIII – 2026 - Full Line-Up Announced!
28
09
De Delvers announces third full-lenght album 'Zwarte Siroop'
27
09
CURSE MACKEY Unveils ‘Imaginary Enemies’, A Darkwave Descent Into Grief & Revelation
25
09
Today, exactly 38 years ago The Klinik released 'Plague'!

Concert reviews

17
08
KRAFTWERK
Royal Palace Open Air - Brussels - August 14 2025
22
04
GAVIN FRIDAY
Live at 404 / De Vooruit - Ghent - 01/04.2025
28
11
BELGIAN ELECTROWAVE IS NOT DEAD 3
Belgian ElectroWave Is Not Dead 3

GET A COPY OF OUR MAGAZINE
SEND TO YOUR HOME

INTERVIEWS

27
09
CORPUS DELICTI
''All is quiet, the motion's cold. I face the wind as I'm taking the road.''
18
09
WHISPERS IN THE SHADOW
This album isn’t about bashing religion and faith. That would be a pretty cheap trick.
17
09
ZWAREMACHINE
We were able to secure the support slot for Front 242. Everything was looking positive until Bas’s cancer reemerged and there were complications.
27
08
BEAUTIFUL FREAKIN' WEIRDO
An Interview With UK Industrial Metal Act, Beautiful Freakin' Weirdo
29
07
EX-VOTO
“Decisions. In a modern time. Transmissions. From the inner mind.“

PHOTOS

21
09
KRUPPS
Kulttempel Oberhausen
12
09
ULTRA SUNN
De Casino St Niklaas
12
09
ULTRA SUNN
De Casino St Niklaas
08
09
AUX ANIMAUX SUPPORT SHE PAST AWAY
Kulttempel Oberhausen
07
09
SHE PAST AWAY
Kulttempel Oberhausen
17
08
NEW MODEL ARMY
Summerkultur Dinslaken
23
07
DUCTAPE
Amphi Festival Keulen

ADVERTISE
IN PEEK-A-BOO

VIDEO CLIPS

17
10
ZANIAS
Unseen (Official Video)
16
10
DOPE
Blood Money
15
10
SOFT CELL
Martin (The Hacker 2025 Remix)
14
10
DARK MINIMAL PROJECT
Schlafen !
13
10
PEAK FLOW
Don't Die In Your Sleep (Remix)
13
10
CRASH COURSE IN SCIENCE
Flying Turns (Live @ BIM 2009)
12
10
COCTEAU TWINS
Hazel