Tuesday, February 8, 2011

J. Paul Getty III, Grandson of Getty Oil Founder & Father to Balthazar Getty Dies at 54

54-year old Jean Paul Getty the III has died in Buckinghamshire, England, after a long battle with phis health since his 1981 drug overdose.

Jean paul getty iii

Getty was born in November of 1956. Rebellious as a youth, in 1971, Getty was expelled from his school. In 1973, at the age of 16, he was kidnapped and ransomed for $17 million. Getty's grandfather thought that it was merely a ploy by his grandson to secure funds and so refused to pay the ransom. Eventually, the Getty's received the boy's ear and mailed it along with a lock of hair, lowering the ransom price to $3.2 million. Getty Sr. negotiated further and Getty III was found alive in Southern Italy late in 1973, after being held in captivity for 5 months.

In 1974, he married Gisela Zacher and they had a son, Hollywood actor Balthazar Getty, who appeared in films such as: Young Guns IINatural Born Killers, and Lost Highway.

in '81, Getty had a stroke due to a drug overdose, which resulted in his being paralyzed and almost blind.

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