Jon James Lamont Whiteley was born on February 19, 1945, in Monymusk, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, to a family with a strong educational background. His father was the headteacher of Monymusk Primary School, where Jon began to showcase his talents at a young age.
At the age of six, Jon won first prize for verse-speaking at the Aberdeen Music Festival, impressing a BBC radio producer who was visiting the school. This led to Jon being screen-tested for a co-starring role in the 1952 film "The Stranger in Between," opposite Dirk Bogarde.
Jon's breakthrough role came in 1953 with "The Little Kidnappers," in which he played a young orphan alongside Vincent Winter. The film earned Jon and Winter an honorary "Juvenile Oscar" at the 1954 Academy Awards.
Throughout the 1950s, Jon appeared in a total of five films, including "Moonfleet" (1955) and "The Spanish Gardener" (1956),both opposite Dirk Bogarde. He also starred in "The Weapon" (1956) and "The Stranger in Between" (1952).
After his acting career, Jon pursued higher education, studying modern history at Pembroke College, Oxford. He earned a degree, an MA, and a doctorate, and went on to work as an art historian.
Jon began his career in the art world as assistant curator of Christ Church Picture Gallery in 1976. Two years later, he moved to the Ashmolean Museum, where he became the senior curator of the Department of Western Art in 1993.
As a respected art historian, Jon authored and co-authored several books on artists, including Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, and Claude Lorrain. He also published a book on the Ashmolean's Stringed Instruments in 2009.
Jon married fellow art historian Linda Whiteley in 1972, and they had two children, William and Flora. He was made a chevalier (knight) of the French Order of Arts and Letters in May 2009.
Jon Whiteley passed away on May 16, 2020, at the age of 75, leaving behind a legacy as a talented child actor and respected art historian.
