5. Ser Ilyn Payne Is A Rock Star Only In It For The Leather Jacket
From an acting perspective, Wilko Johnson's got a pretty cushy job on Game Of Thrones. You might even say his job is even easier than Kristian Nairn's Hodor, and that's saying something. You see, while Nairn gets to say 'Hodor' many times and often, Johnson doesn't even have to utter a word, on account of his character being mute. Have you figured out who he is yet? I'm guessing you have, seeing as there's a whacking great picture above this point. He's Ser Ilyn Payne, the King's Justice/executioner who had his tongue removed before the series even began. Speaking of before the series began, before the books were even written Johnson was a star of 70s hit group Dr. Feelgood of the song 'Milk And Alcohol' fame shredding on lead guitar, and Payne represented his first acting job. No doubt picked because of his incredibly severe countenance, I've got a strange feeling the casting directors were fans of his group, who with Johnson in the line-up managed a UK number one with their 1976 live album Stupidity. However, you can see why they chose Johnson to look at him, you'd know that's an intense bloke you don't want to mess about, perfect for an executioner. Yet Johnson's reason for being on Game Of Thrones wasn't down to a huge love of the material. He's admitted himself that had never heard of the Song Of Ice And Fire books, and thought he was signing up for some cheap-but-awesome genre telly like Xena Warrior Princess. Not thinking it would last long, he signed up because he thought he could get a leather jacket out of the deal, and was pleasantly surprised when the whole thing turned out to be an HBO juggernaut. Unfortunately, Johnson was recently diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer. Yet despite being terminally ill, he's shown willingness to crack on with the show an effort which surely grants him the leather jacket he so desperately craves.