Ken Takakura, an actor known as “Japan’s Clint Eastwood” for his portrayal of tough but principled gangsters in over 100 movies and who gained international fame in director Ridley Scott’s “Black Rain,” has died at the age of 83. Takakura, who played alongside U.S. stars such as Tom Selleck and starred in movies directed by Sydney Pollack and China’s Zhang Yimou, died on Nov. 10 of lymphoma, his office said on Tuesday. Born Goichi Oda in Oita, on the southwestern island of Kyushu, Takakura got his start in film in 1955 when he dropped into an audition at Toei, one of Japan’s biggest film studios, out of curiosity.
