John Standing was left just £60 by his mega-rich dad: 'I had to learn to stand on my own two feet!
John Standing was left just £60 by his once-"stonkingly rich" dad.
The 89-year-old actor explained that after his parents split when he was a child, he only really reunited with his father once he became an adult but by that time, all wealth had been "ran into the ground" and when his dad died, he had to learn how to make it on his own,
He told The Saturday Times: "My actress mother insisted on living in Park Lane and my stockbroker father acquiesced and bought her a flat there. But after their marriage broke up, my brother Tim, who died ten years ago aged 73, and I were made wards of court, so I spent much of my childhood in theatre dressing rooms.
"I wasn’t allowed to spend a night under my dad’s roof until I was 21. When he died at 60, my father, who was stonkingly rich as a young man but ran his business into the ground through drink, left us 60 quid each. That was my inheritance. But in a way that’s the best thing that ever happened to me because it forced me to stand on my own two feet."
However, the 'V for Vendetta'- who has Alexander, 58, with Jill Melford as well as India, 38, Archie, 37, and Octavia, 34, with wife Sarah - went on to insist that despite his long career in film and television, he has not become mega rich although he has earned enough to purchase property and educate his children as he recalled struggling financially as a young actor.
He said: "I’ve not made huge riches by a long chalk, though I’ve made enough money to buy my house and educate my children. I spent three years in rep on £6-7 a week, and those days were pretty tough money wise. After paying £4 a week for my digs, I usually only had enough for the odd half of bitter. Some of the food served up in my digs was spectacularly dreary. Dinner would often be a few tired-looking pieces of lettuce with mayonnaise and, if you were lucky, a curled-up piece of ham."
