John Standing
John Standing
IMDb
John Standing. Actor: V wie Vendetta. Sir John Standing is one of England's most respected stage, film and television actors. From a distinguished acting dynasty which includes his great-grandfather Herbert Standing (1846-1923), grandfather Sir Guy Standing (1873-1937) and mother, the actress Kay Hammond, John Robert Leon Standing, born in London on August, 16, 1934, succeeded his father Sir Ronald Leon, as the 4th baronet in 1964.

A one-time art student and...
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/imdb/images-ANDW73HA/favicon_desktop_32x32._CB1582158068_.png
IMDb
Sir John Standing is one of England's most respected stage, film and television actors. From a distinguished acting dynasty which includes his great-grandfather Herbert Standing (1846-1923), grandfather Sir Guy Standing (1873-1937) and mother, the actress Kay Hammond, John Robert Leon Standing, born in London on August, 16, 1934, succeeded his father Sir Ronald Leon, as the 4th baronet in 1964.

A one-time art student and avid painter, Sir John attended both Millfield Preparatory School and Eton College and made his debut on stage in minor roles in the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company's production of "Titus Andronicus." In London from 1959, he worked productively on the London stage (Bristol Old Vic, Chicester, Haymarket, Royal Court) for two decades with a resume that included "The Darling Buds," "The Irregular Verb to Love," "See How They Run," "The Clandestine Marriage," "The Cherry Orchard," "The Fighting Cock," The Beaux' Stratgem," "The Importance of Being Earnest" (as Algernon), "Ring Around the Moon," "The Alchemist," "Arms and the Man, "A Sense of Detachment" by John Osborne, "Saint Joan," "Dead-Eyed Dicks," "Plunder," "The Philanderer" and, most notably, as Elyot Chase in Noël Coward's "Private Lives," co-starring Maggie Smith and directed by John Gielgud, which was taken to Broadway in 1975.

Lesser known for his work on the big screen, a few BBC-TV guest parts came to Sir John's way before he entered films in 1962 with featured roles in the light comedy Das letzte Wort hat sie (1962) and romantic drama The Wild and the Willing (1962). Standing followed these with performances in such films as Sie nannten ihn King (1965), Der Puppenmörder (1966), Nicht so schnell, mein Junge (1966), A Touch of Love (1969), All the Right Noises (1970), X, Y und Zee (1972), Au-Pair-Girls (1972), Der Adler ist gelandet (1976), Das Haus des Satans (1978), Die Seewölfe kommen (1980), Der Elefantenmensch (1980), Hey, Soldat - dein Täschchen brennt (1983), Nightflyer (1987), Chaplin - Das Leben der unsterblichen Filmlegende (1992), Mrs Dalloway (1997), and a starring role as a businessman who opens a brothel with his playboy son after the death of his wife in the dramedy 8½ Frauen (1999).

Sir John had more prestigious work come to him on TV. He lightened up at times as he died as a aristocratic politician who falls for a working class model in the British comedy series Die kleinen und die feinen Leute (1980) and a spy partnered with Tom Conti in Old Boy Network (1992), but found more rewarding work in the classic mini-series The First Churchills (1969), Dame, König, As, Spion (1979), Im Schatten der Götter (1988), The Choir (1995), Club V.R. (1996) and Drovers' Gold (1997).

In the U.S., he has graced numerous weekly programs including L.A. Law: Staranwälte, Tricks, Prozesse (1986), Ehekriege (1991), and Mord ist ihr Hobby (1984) and co-starred briefly with Robert Wagner and the late Samantha Smith in the action series Lime Street (1985), which ended abruptly with the young girl's death in a plane crash. The 13-year-old Smith became an instant celebrity after writing a touching and concerned letter to the then Soviet President Yuri Andropov about the relations between the two dominant powers and being invited to Russia.

Into the millennium, the elderly Standing has remained extremely busy playing a number of distinguished lords and higher-ups, especially with British TV appearances ("The Vice," "In Deep," "Keen Eddie," "MidSommer Murders," "Game of Thrones," "The Crown") and in above-par TV movies and miniseries including Longitude - Der Längengrad (2000), Love in a Cold Climate (2001), The Falklands Play (2002), Churchill - The Gathering Storm (2002), Quatermain und der Schatz des König Salomon (2004), Die Schönheitslinie (2006), Fallen Angel (2007), Rosamunde Pilcher: Die andere Frau (2012), Patrick Melrose (2018) and King Lear (2018).

Divorced from actress Jill Melford, Sir John's second wife, actress Sarah Forbes, is the daughter of director Bryan Forbes and actress Nanette Newman.