---
name: "John Leyton"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/john-leyton"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "17 February 1939"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T21:15:53.245335+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# John Leyton

Actor. Born 17 February 1939 in Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, England, UK.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 17 February 1939, Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, England, UK

## Biography

John Leyton is an English actor and singer. After National Service he studied drama and began appearing in small film and television roles. His first major television part was as Ginger in the 1960 Granada series *Biggles*, which brought him a large fan following and led to a singing career.

As a singer he is known for the 1961 number-one hit "Johnny Remember Me", produced by Joe Meek. His acting roles in the 1960s included Willie 'Tunnel King' Dickes in *The Great Escape* (1963), Private Wilkes in *Guns at Batasi* (1964) and Lt. Orde in *Von Ryan's Express* (1965). Later film credits include *Krakatoa, East of Java* (1969) and *Colour Me Kubrick* (2005). He also appeared in the 2008 biopic *Telstar*.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *The Great Escape* (1963), Fi1m 82, as Willie 'Tunnel King' — [page](https://film.one/film/the-great-escape.md)

## Also known for

- *Von Ryan's Express* (1965), Lt. Orde
- *Colour Me Kubrick* (2005), Lord Charles Benson
- *I'm All Right Jack* (1959), Recruit to Detto (uncredited)
- *Krakatoa, East of Java* (1969), Rigby

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/john-leyton