John Standing

Biography

Sir John Ronald Leon, 4th Baronet (born 16 August 1934) is an English actor and baronet who is known as John Standing. He is the stepson of John Clements. Standing was born in London, the son of Kay Hammond (née Dorothy Katherine Standing), an actress, and Sir Ronald George Leon, 3rd Baronet, a stockbroker descended from Sir Herbert Leon, the builder of Bletchley Park. He succeeded his father as the 4th baronet in 1964, but does not use the title. The Leon family were, until 1937, owners of Bletchley Park, the country house in Buckinghamshire used in the Second World War as a code-breaking centre. He was educated at Eton College and Millfield School, Somerset. He served in the King's Royal Rifle Corps as a second lieutenant, before going on to study at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London Standing began his career in Peter Brook's 1955 production of Titus Andronicus starring Laurence Olivier and wife Vivien Leigh and later played leading parts in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, Christopher Fry's Ring Round the Moon, A Sense of Detachment by John Osborne, and Noël Coward's Private Lives, with Maggie Smith. He was nominated for an Olivier award (1979) for Close of Play at the National Theatre. He made his film debut in The Wild and the Willing (1962), going on to appear in King Rat (1965), Walk, Don't Run (1966), The Psychopath (1966), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), The Elephant Man (1980), Nightflyers (1987), Mrs Dalloway (1997) and A Good Woman (2004). One of his first major television roles was as Sidney Godolphin in the BBC twelve-part serial, The First Churchills (1969). Other television appearances include Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979); the ITV sitcom The Other 'Arf (1980–84), with Lorraine Chase; The Choir (1995) and King Solomon's Mines (2004). In the United States, he made guest appearances in numerous weekly programmes including L.A. Law, Civil Wars and Murder, She Wrote, and co-starred briefly with Robert Wagner and Samantha Smith in the action series Lime Street (1985). In 1976, he also appeared opposite Peter O'Toole in the little-seen BBC thriller film, Rogue Male, directed by Clive Donner. He appeared in the horror film Nightflyers (1987) adapted from a short story by George R. R. Martin. In 2002, he had a speaking credit on Lost Horizons, the second studio album from the British electronic duo Lemon Jelly. On track 1, "Elements", he lists the basic “elements" that make up the world: ash, metal, water, wood, fire and sky. On track 3, "Ramblin' Man", Standing reads a long list of various locations around the world, ranging from small Sussex villages to major world capitals. In July 2010, it was confirmed that he would be appearing as Jon Arryn in the HBO series Game of Thrones, based on Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels.

Known For

Lilliman

V for Vendetta

Fox

The Elephant Man

Peter Baring

Rogue Trader

Philip Emmenthal

8 ½ Women

Father Verecker

The Eagle Has Landed

Embleton

The Man Who Knew Too Little

Rt Hon William Whitelaw CH MC MP (Home Secretary)

The Falklands Play

Jason Mountolive

The Legacy

Dumby

A Good Woman

Ally's dad

Rabbit Fever

Butler

Chaplin

Bernie

All the Right Noises

D'Branin

Nightflyers

Julius D. Haversack

Walk Don't Run

Richard Dalloway

Mrs. Dalloway

Russ

Wine of India

Jack Plummer

The Calling

Webster Garland

The Shadow in the North

Capt. Proctor

Longitude

Captain Sholto Savory

Privates on Parade

Mark Von Sturm

The Psychopath

Jenson Thackery

Shoreditch

Major Quive-Smith

Rogue Male

Humphrey Gore-Brown

The Iron Maiden

Alan Stacey

Night of the Fox

Arthur

The Great Escaper

Roger

A Touch of Love

Charles Fairbrother

The Class Of Miss MacMichael

Coudray

The Count of Solar

Mr. Austen

The Real Jane Austen

The Duke of Windsor

To Catch a King

Sir Anthony

The Contractor

Ben

Can You Hear Me?

Arthur

The Wild and the Willing

Invitation to the Wedding

Whitfield

Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel

Grandfather George

Queen & Country

Leo Winston (segment 3 "Mr. Steinway")

Torture Garden

Jack Chesney

Charley's Aunt

French

Lassie

Michael de Vere

I Want Candy

Sutcliffe

Sharp at Four

Jack

Visitors

Garden Party Guest

Scoop

Lord Camrose

Churchill's Secret

Lord Goddard

Consenting Adults

Lord Moyne

The Gathering Storm

Rev Holland

Pandaemonium

Foreign Secretary

Queen's Messenger

Malise Gordon

Riders

Buster

Au Pair Girls

Belfrage

The Endless Game

Podmore

The Hippopotamus

Dr. Tucker

The Happy Prince

Daven

King Rat

Finley

The Sea Wolves

Gordon

Zee and Co.

Butler

King Lear

Men's Room Attendant

Hot Enough for June

Politician

Mad Cows

Mr. Gilmore

The Woman In White

Van Rensburg

The Biko Inquest

Bernard

A Family Affair

Additional Voices (voice)

Churchill and the Movie Mogul

Charnaud

Dark Holiday

Narrator

May… I Have This Dance?

Dean Frydman

Animal

Hubert Shannon

A Pair of Briefs

Mr. Carpenter (voice)

The Last Resort

Dr. Kipper

Flapjack Floozie

Captain Winsloe

The Sinking of the HMS Victoria

Henry

Chameleons

Colonel Pickering

Pygmalion

Foreign Secretary

Witness to a Kill

John Tallwatch

Nanny's Boy