A DISTINGUISHED

actor who appeared in films including The Eagle Has Landed and The Elephant Man before playing Jon Arryn in Game Of Thrones, John Standing is also a talented artist. And the thespian, 84, is to show off his paintings at Osborne Studio Gallery in Belgravia next month. ‘I was going to be an artist, but my mother told me I needed to earn money, so I entered her profession,’ says John, whose mother, Kay Hammond, played Elvira in the Noel Coward film Blithe Spirit. The pictures are scenes from Standing’s travels. But he won’t be standing around admiring them for long — next up he’s in Rupert Everett’s Uncle Vanya at the Theatre Royal Bath.