Ken Takakura (right) and Zhang Yimou (XINHUA)

Ken Takakura, an outstanding Japanese film star known for playing outlaws and stoic heroes, died of lymphoma on November 10 at an age of 83, arousing strong repercussions among Chinese people.

Takakura was born in 1931 in Fukuoka, southern Japan. After graduating from Meiji University in Tokyo, he attended an audition on a whim in 1955 and became a film actor. He starred in over 200 films and won many Japanese and international film awards in his lifetime.

Takakura has huge numbers of fans in China. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, when China started to open up to the world, he was extremely popular among Chinese audiences due to his tough guy image as projected in films like Mount Hakkoda and The Yellow Handkerchief. In 2005, Takakura starred in renowned Chinese director Zhang Yimou's film Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles.

Takakura also was accepted by the Chinese audience because of his respectable persona, humbleness and honesty.