John Standing
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
Game of Thrones
Jon Arryn
Midsomer Murders
Charles Rust
Midsomer Murders
Will Tunstall
Murder, She Wrote
Arthur Constable
Murder, She Wrote
Chief Daniel Trent
The Avengers
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Colonnel Toby Luttrell
Hart to Hart
The Saint
Gendarme
L.A. Law
Nigel Morris
The Crown
Imbert-Terry
Hotel
Space: 1999
Pasc
Lexx
Count Dracul
The Vice
Hunter
George Franklin
Borgia
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
Lord Amberley
Eerie, Indiana
Professor Nigel Zirchon
The Main Chance
Lord Radchester
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Van der Valk
Ehrlich
The Frighteners
Tony Wardle
Paddington Bear
Mr. Brown
The Other 'Arf
V for Vendetta
Lilliman
Patrick Melrose
George Watford
King Solomon's Mines
Dr. Sam Maitland
In Deep
Ritchie
Murphy's Law
Love in a Cold Climate
Lord Montdore
A Dance to the Music of Time
Nicholas Jenkins (older)
The Elephant Man
Fox
Gulliver's Travels
Admiral Bolgolam
The Line of Beauty
Lord Kessler
Joan of Arc
Archbishop
Keen Eddie
Old Boy Network
Beryl Reid
The First Churchills
Sidney Godolphin
Rosamunde Pilcher: The Other Wife
Lord George Meriot
The Man Who Knew Too Little
Embleton
Chaplin
Butler
Armchair Theatre
Sutcliffe
Lime Street
Edward Wingate
Scoop
Garden Party Guest
The Choir
Bishop Robert Young
Shillingbury Tales
The Great Escaper
Arthur
The Contractor
Sir Anthony
The Eagle Has Landed
Father Verecker
Fallen Angel
Voice of Francis Youlgreave
The Gathering Storm
Lord Moyne
I Want Candy
Michael de Vere
A Good Woman
Dumby
Lassie
French
Rogue Trader
Peter Baring
King Lear
Butler
Walk Don't Run
Julius D. Haversack
The Calling
Jack Plummer
Queen & Country
Grandfather George
The Hippopotamus
Podmore
Mrs. Dalloway
Richard Dalloway
The Sea Wolves
Finley
King Rat
Daven
The Falklands Play
Rt Hon William Whitelaw CH MC MP (Home Secretary)
Torture Garden
Leo Winston (segment 3 "Mr. Steinway")
The Happy Prince
Dr. Tucker
Churchill's Secret
Lord Camrose
Nightflyers
D'Branin
The Woman In White
Mr. Gilmore
Au Pair Girls
Buster
The Endless Game
Belfrage
The Shadow in the North
Webster Garland
Longitude
Capt. Proctor
Rogue Male
Major Quive-Smith
Zee and Co.
Gordon
The Psychopath
Mark Von Sturm
A Touch of Love
Roger
Night of the Fox
Alan Stacey
The Legacy
Jason Mountolive
Dark Holiday
Charnaud
The Iron Maiden
Humphrey Gore-Brown
The Wild and the Willing
Arthur
Witness to a Kill
Foreign Secretary
Mad Cows
Politician
Pandaemonium
Rev Holland
Rabbit Fever
Ally's dad
Hot Enough for June
Men's Room Attendant
Consenting Adults
Lord Goddard
Riders
Malise Gordon
8 ½ Women
Philip Emmenthal
Animal
Dean Frydman
Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel
Whitfield
The Count of Solar
Coudray
Churchill and the Movie Mogul
Additional Voices
The Biko Inquest
Van Rensburg
Privates on Parade
Captain Sholto Savory
The Class Of Miss MacMichael
Charles Fairbrother
The Real Jane Austen
Mr. Austen
To Catch a King
The Duke of Windsor
All the Right Noises
Bernie
Pygmalion
Colonel Pickering
A Pair of Briefs
Hubert Shannon
Chameleons
Henry
Can You Hear Me?
Ben
Invitation to the Wedding
The Sinking of the HMS Victoria
Captain Winsloe
Shoreditch
Jenson Thackery
Queen's Messenger
Foreign Secretary
Visitors
Jack
A Family Affair
Bernard
Sharp at Four
Sutcliffe
Flapjack Floozie
Dr. Kipper
Charley's Aunt
Jack Chesney
Wine of India
Russ
May… I Have This Dance?
Narrator
The Last Resort
Mr. Carpenter (voice)