
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.
127 acting credits
Acting · 127

Game of Thrones
2011

Midsomer Murders
1997

Agatha Christie's Poirot
1989

Murder, She Wrote
1984

The Crown
2016

The Avengers
1961

The Saint
1962

Hunter
1984

Hotel
1982

L.A. Law
1986

Hart to Hart
1979

BBC Play of the Month
1965

Screen Two
1985

ITV Playhouse
1967

Space: 1999
1975

Lexx
1997

Van der Valk
1972

BBC2 Play of the Week
1977

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
1971

V for Vendetta
2006
Drama 61-67
1961

Borgia
2011

Patrick Melrose
2018

The Main Chance
1969

The Vice
1999

ITV Saturday Night Theatre
1969

Eerie, Indiana
1991

Keen Eddie
2003

The Elephant Man
1980

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
1979

The Line of Beauty
2006

In Deep
2001

Gulliver's Travels
1996

King Solomon's Mines
2004

Joan of Arc
1999

Longitude
2000

A Dance to the Music of Time
1997

Scoop
2006

The Frighteners
1972

Lime Street
1985

The Eagle Has Landed
1976
Look at the State We're In!
1995
Jubilee 1977
1977

Chaplin
1992

Love in a Cold Climate
2001

A Good Woman
2004

Armchair Theatre
1956

The Sea Wolves
1980

The Choir
1995

Fallen Angel
2007

King Lear
2018

Paddington Bear
1989

The First Churchills
1969

Murphy's Law
1988

The Contractor
2007

The Other 'Arf
1980

Queen & Country
2015

The Happy Prince
2018

The Gathering Storm
2002

Lassie
2005

8 ½ Women
1999

King Rat
1965

Rosamunde Pilcher: The Other Wife
2012

The Man Who Knew Too Little
1997

Longitude
2000

The Great Escaper
2023

Rogue Trader
1999

The Hippopotamus
2017

I Want Candy
2007

Shillingbury Tales
1981

The Endless Game
1989

Hot Enough for June
1964

Beryl Reid
1977

Mrs. Dalloway
1997

Night of the Fox
1990

Churchill's Secret
2016

Pandaemonium
2001

Au Pair Girls
1972

The Legacy
1978

The Shadow in the North
2007

Chameleons
1989

Can You Hear Me?
2025

The Woman In White
1997

Torture Garden
1967

Walk Don't Run
1966

Riders
1993

Nightflyers
1987

Mad Cows
1999

Rogue Male
1976

The Psychopath
1966
Rabbit Fever
2006

Privates on Parade
1983

The Calling
2000

The Falklands Play
2002

The Iron Maiden
1963

Dark Holiday
1989

The Endless Game
1989

The Real Jane Austen
2002

Consenting Adults
2007

All the Right Noises
1970

Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel
1992

The Wild and the Willing
1962

To Catch a King
1984

Animal
2005

Witness to a Kill
2001

A Touch of Love
1969
The Old Boy Network
1992

A Pair of Briefs
1962

Zee and Co.
1972

Queen's Messenger
2001

Invitation to the Wedding
1983

Shoreditch
2003

Churchill and the Movie Mogul
2019

The Count of Solar
1992

The Class Of Miss MacMichael
1978

Visitors
1987

Flapjack Floozie
1988

Pygmalion
1983
Wine of India
1970

The Biko Inquest
1984

The Sinking of the HMS Victoria
1977
Charley's Aunt
1969
Nanny's Boy
1977

A Family Affair
2019

The Last Resort
2014

May… I Have This Dance?
2020
Sharp at Four
1964