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.
Jon Arryn
Charles Rust
Will Tunstall
Arthur Constable
Chief Daniel Trent
Colonnel Toby Luttrell
Gendarme
Nigel Morris
Imbert-Terry
Pasc
Count Dracul
George Franklin
Lord Amberley
Professor Nigel Zirchon
Lord Radchester
Ehrlich
Tony Wardle
Mr. Brown
Lilliman
George Watford
Dr. Sam Maitland
Ritchie
Lord Montdore
Nicholas Jenkins (older)
Fox
Admiral Bolgolam
Lord Kessler
Archbishop
Sidney Godolphin
Lord George Meriot
Embleton
Butler
Sutcliffe
Edward Wingate
Garden Party Guest
Bishop Robert Young
Arthur
Sir Anthony
Father Verecker
Voice of Francis Youlgreave
Lord Moyne
Michael de Vere
Dumby
French
Peter Baring
Butler
Julius D. Haversack
Jack Plummer
Grandfather George
Podmore
Richard Dalloway
Finley
Daven
Rt Hon William Whitelaw CH MC MP (Home Secretary)
Leo Winston (segment 3 "Mr. Steinway")
Dr. Tucker
Lord Camrose
D'Branin
Mr. Gilmore
Buster
Belfrage
Webster Garland
Capt. Proctor
Major Quive-Smith
Gordon
Mark Von Sturm
Roger
Alan Stacey
Jason Mountolive
Charnaud
Humphrey Gore-Brown
Arthur
Foreign Secretary
Politician
Rev Holland
Ally's dad
Men's Room Attendant
Lord Goddard
Malise Gordon
Philip Emmenthal
Dean Frydman
Whitfield
Coudray
Additional Voices
Van Rensburg
Captain Sholto Savory
Charles Fairbrother
Mr. Austen
The Duke of Windsor
Bernie
Colonel Pickering
Hubert Shannon
Henry
Ben
Captain Winsloe
Jenson Thackery
Foreign Secretary
Jack
Bernard
Sutcliffe
Dr. Kipper
Jack Chesney
Russ
Narrator
Mr. Carpenter (voice)