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John Standing

John Standing

Actor · b. 1934 · London, England, UK

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.

Movies24

  • Movie7.9

    V for Vendetta

    2006 · 15K votes

  • Movie8.1

    The Elephant Man

    1980 · 4.1K votes

  • Movie5.4

    The Legacy

    1978 · 80 votes

  • Movie7.4

    Chaplin

    1992 · 1.3K votes

  • Movie5.5

    The Contractor

    2007 · 209 votes

  • Movie6.7

    The Eagle Has Landed

    1976 · 397 votes

  • Movie6.0

    King Lear

    2018 · 109 votes

  • Movie6.6

    Scoop

    2006 · 1.8K votes

  • Movie6.7

    The Great Escaper

    2023 · 178 votes

  • Movie6.3

    A Good Woman

    2004 · 192 votes

  • Movie6.2

    The Happy Prince

    2018 · 194 votes

  • Movie5.9

    The Sea Wolves

    1980 · 110 votes

  • Movie6.3
  • Movie6.4

    Lassie

    2005 · 148 votes

  • Movie5.9

    Rogue Trader

    1999 · 138 votes

  • Movie5.5

    8 ½ Women

    1999 · 70 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Chameleons

    1989 · 1 votes

  • Movie7.2

    King Rat

    1965 · 83 votes

  • Movie5.1

    I Want Candy

    2007 · 121 votes

  • Movie6.1

    Queen & Country

    2015 · 74 votes

  • Movie7.4

    Longitude

    2000 · 35 votes

  • Movie7.3
  • Movie7.0

    To Catch a King

    1984 · 2 votes

  • Movie6.4

    Walk Don't Run

    1966 · 87 votes

Series24

  • TV8.5

    Game of Thrones

    2011 · 27K votes

  • TV7.5

    Midsomer Murders

    1997 · 374 votes

  • TV7.5

    Murder, She Wrote

    1984 · 471 votes

  • TV8.2

    Agatha Christie's Poirot

    1989 · 584 votes

  • TV7.0

    L.A. Law

    1986 · 80 votes

  • TV8.2

    The Crown

    2016 · 2.4K votes

  • TV7.1

    Hunter

    1984 · 102 votes

  • TV7.8

    The Avengers

    1961 · 156 votes

  • TV6.8

    Hotel

    1982 · 26 votes

  • TV5.2

    BBC Play of the Month

    1965 · 8 votes

  • TV7.1

    Screen Two

    1985 · 7 votes

  • TV6.9

    Hart to Hart

    1979 · 133 votes

  • TV7.4

    The Saint

    1962 · 136 votes

  • TV5.2

    The Wednesday Play

    1964 · 5 votes

  • TV7.0

    ITV Playhouse

    1967 · 3 votes

  • TV7.0

    Lexx

    1997 · 146 votes

  • TV7.0
  • TV7.1

    Space: 1999

    1975 · 166 votes

  • TV7.0

    BBC2 Play of the Week

    1977 · 1 votes

  • TV5.6

    The Vice

    1999 · 8 votes

  • TV7.5
  • TV6.2

    Van der Valk

    1972 · 10 votes

  • TV7.5

    Patrick Melrose

    2018 · 342 votes

  • TV