John Paul Getty III's recent death brings to a close a tragic chapter in the wealthy family's decades-long drama of strife and eccentricity. Anthony Haden-Guest reports on their woe.
The death on February 5 of John Paul Getty III at Wormsley, his estate in the English county of Buckinghamshire, where he had long been watched over by his mother, Gail, and a round-the-clock team of caregivers, writes finis to a story as terrible as it is gripping. It is in its essentials a tale of the family lives of the hugely rich so we might as well begin at a peculiarly high or low point which is with his kidnapping at the age of 16 by a gang of mobsters at 3 a.m. on July 10, 1973 on Rome's Piazza Farnese.
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Two days later Gail Getty received a ransom demand for $17 million.
The death on February 5 of John Paul Getty III at Wormsley, his estate in the English county of Buckinghamshire, where he had long been watched over by his mother, Gail, and a round-the-clock team of caregivers, writes finis to a story as terrible as it is gripping. It is in its essentials a tale of the family lives of the hugely rich so we might as well begin at a peculiarly high or low point which is with his kidnapping at the age of 16 by a gang of mobsters at 3 a.m. on July 10, 1973 on Rome's Piazza Farnese.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Newsweek Survey: Oprah, Clinton Most Admired Women in America
Two days later Gail Getty received a ransom demand for $17 million.
- 2/11/2011
- by Anthony Haden-Guest
- The Daily Beast
London — Great wealth became J. Paul Getty III's great curse.
At age 16, he was held for ransom for five months by captors who cut off his ear when his oil-rich grandfather balked at paying.
After his 1973 release, he became addicted to drugs and alcohol, diving deeper into a hippie counterculture that seemed the opposite of his family's capitalistic roots. He was only in his 20s when he suffered a devastating stroke that left him severely impaired and in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He died Saturday at age 54.
Getty "never let his handicap keep him from living life to the fullest and he was an inspiration to all of us, showing us how to stand up to all adversity," his son, the actor Balthazar Getty, said in a statement.
The elder Getty died surrounded by his family at his country estate in Buckinghamshire northwest of London.
At age 16, he was held for ransom for five months by captors who cut off his ear when his oil-rich grandfather balked at paying.
After his 1973 release, he became addicted to drugs and alcohol, diving deeper into a hippie counterculture that seemed the opposite of his family's capitalistic roots. He was only in his 20s when he suffered a devastating stroke that left him severely impaired and in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He died Saturday at age 54.
Getty "never let his handicap keep him from living life to the fullest and he was an inspiration to all of us, showing us how to stand up to all adversity," his son, the actor Balthazar Getty, said in a statement.
The elder Getty died surrounded by his family at his country estate in Buckinghamshire northwest of London.
- 2/8/2011
- by AP
- Huffington Post
J. Paul Getty III, a grandson of oil magnate Jean Paul Getty and the victim of a 1973 kidnapping and mutilation that made headlines around the world, died Saturday in Buckinghamshire, England, after a lengthy illness, his actor-son, Balthazar Getty, said in a statement. A father of two and a grandfather of six, Getty was 54 and "taught us how to live our lives and overcome obstacles and extreme adversity," said Balthazar, 36, reports the Los Angeles Times. At the age of 16, Getty was abducted in Rome by kidnappers who said he was being held by the Mafia. His father and grandfather, then...
- 2/8/2011
- by Stephen M. Silverman
- PEOPLE.com
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