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 codebreaking centre He was educated at Eton College and Millfield School Somerset He served in the Kings 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 Brooks 1955 production of Titus Andronicus starring Laurence Olivier and wife Vivien Leigh and later played leading parts in Oscar Wildes The Importance of Being Earnest Christopher Frys Ring Round the Moon A Sense of Detachment by John Osborne and Noël Cowards 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 Dont 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 twelvepart serial The First Churchills 1969 Other television appearances include Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy 1979 the ITV sitcom The Other Arf 198084 with Lorraine Chase The Choir 1995 and King Solomons Mines 2004 In the United States he made guest appearances in numerous weekly programmes including LA Law Civil Wars and Murder She Wrote and costarred briefly with Robert Wagner and Samantha Smith in the action series Lime Street 1985 In 1976 he also appeared opposite Peter OToole in the littleseen 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 Martins A Song of Ice and Fire novels