John Paul Getty III, also known as Paul Getty, was the eldest of the four
children of John Paul Getty, Jr. and Abigail, and the grandson of oil tycoon
Jean Paul Getty. His son is actor Balthazar Getty.
Early life Getty spent most of his childhood in
Rome, Italy, while his father headed the Italian division for the Getty family's
oil business. His parents divorced in 1964 and his father married again in
1966 to model and actress Talitha Pol. They adopted a hippie lifestyle and
spent much time in England and Morocco during the 1960s. Getty stayed in
boarding school at St. George's English School, in Rome. In early 1971, he was
expelled from St. Georges after having painted the hallways of the school one
night, taking inspiration from Charles Manson's Helter Skelter. Later that
year, his stepmother died of a heroin overdose in Rome. While his father moved
back to England, he remained in Italy, where he lived a bohemian life,
frequented nightclubs, and took part in left-wing demonstrations. Endowed with a
considerable artistic inclination, he reportedly earned a living making
jewelry, selling paintings and appearing as an extra in movies.
Kidnapping At 3 a.m. on 10 July 1973, Getty, then
age 16, was kidnapped in the Piazza Farnese in Rome. A ransom note was
received, demanding $17 million in exchange for his safe return. When that
ransom message arrived, some family members suspected the kidnapping was
merely a ploy by the rebellious youngster as he had frequently joked
about staging his own kidnapping to extract money from his frugal
grandfather. He was blindfolded and imprisoned in a mountain hideout. A
second demand was received, but had been delayed by an Italian postal strike.
John Paul Getty, Jr. asked his father for the money, but was refused. Getty
Sr. argued that were he to pay the ransom, then his 14 other grandchildren
could also be kidnapped. In November 1973, an envelope containing a lock of
hair and a human ear was delivered to a daily newspaper with a threat of further
mutilation of Paul, unless $3.2 million was paid: "This is Paul's ear. If we
don't get some money within 10 days, then the other ear will arrive. In other
words, he will arrive in little bits." At this point Getty Sr. agreed to pay a
ransom, although he would only pay $2.2 million, because that was the maximum
amount that was tax deductible. He loaned the remainder to his son who was
responsible for repaying the sum at 4% interest. The reluctant Getty Sr.
negotiated a deal and got his grandson back for about $2.9 million. Getty III
was found alive in a filling station of Lauria, in the province of Potenza, on
15 December 1973, shortly after the ransom was paid.
Nine of the kidnappers were apprehended, including a carpenter, an hospital
orderly, an ex-con and an olive-oil dealer from Calabria, as well as
high-ranking members of the 'Ndrangheta — a Mafia-type organization in Calabria
— such as Girolamo Piromalli and Saverio Mammoliti. Two were convicted and sent
to prison; the others, including the 'Ndrangheta bosses, were acquitted for
lack of evidence. Most of the ransom money was never recovered. In 1977,
Getty had an operation to rebuild the ear that had been cut off by his
kidnappers. A. J. Quinnell used Getty's kidnapping
as one piece of inspiration for his book Man on Fire.
Later life In 1974, Getty married German Gisela
Martine Zacher, who was five months pregnant. He had known her and her twin
sister Jutta since before his kidnapping. Getty was 18 years old when
his son, Balthazar, was born in 1975. The couple divorced in 1993. Getty tried
his hand at acting in European films: he played supporting parts in Raúl Ruiz'
The Territory and in Wim Wenders's The State of Things, which was shot at the
same time as Ruiz's film, using part of its cast and crew.
Getty was an alcoholic and drug addict. In 1981, he imbibed a valium, methadone,
and alcohol cocktail which caused liver failure and a stroke, leaving him a
quadriplegic and nearly blind. He never fully recovered and remained severely
handicapped for the rest of his life. By 1987, however, a daily regime of
exercise, physiotherapy and speech therapy during which he reportedly
showed "extraordinary willpower," had helped him regain some degree of
autonomy. He could again visit concerts and cinema, and was even able to ski,
when strapped to a metal frame. In 1999, Getty, along with several other
members of his family, became citizens of the Republic of Ireland in return for
investments in that country of approximately £1 million each, under a
law which has since been repealed. Death
On 5 February 2011, aged 54, Getty died at Wormsley, Buckinghamshire, following
a long illness. He had been in poor health since his 1981 drug overdose. He
was survived by his son and his mother. References
External links (Norwegian) Haraldsen, Stian. "Skar øret
av John Paul Getty III." Dagbladet. 10 July 1973.
John Paul Getty III at the Internet Movie Database