John Paul Getty III

John Paul Getty III was born in November 1956 and grew up in Italy. His grandfather J. Paul Getty was the founder of Getty Oil, his father was John Paul Getty Jr.John Paul Getty Jr.John Paul Getty Jr. (1932–2003), known as Sir Paul Getty, was a son of oil businessman J. Paul Getty and a Britain-based philanthropist and book collector who made large gifts to the National Gallery, the British Film Institute and cricket, and received an honorary KBE in 1986.Open the full entry and his mother was Gail Harris; his parents later divorced. He was one of the couple’s four children, with Aileen, Mark and Ariadne.⁠[1][2][3]

On July 10, 1973, John Paul Getty III, then 16 and living on his own in Rome, was abducted from a street in Rome after a night out; the kidnapping was attributed to the Calabrian crime group ’Ndrangheta. The kidnappers demanded about $17 million in ransom. His grandfather at first thought the kidnapping was a hoax and refused to pay, saying: “I have 14 other grandchildren and if I pay one penny now, then I’ll have 14 kidnapped grandchildren.”⁠[4][1][5]

About three months after the abduction, the kidnappers cut off his right ear and mailed it, with a lock of his hair, to the Rome newspaper Il Messaggero along with a threat.⁠[4][5]

After the family paid a ransom of about $2.7 million, he was freed on December 15, 1973, and was found shivering in a rainstorm at an abandoned service station. His father could raise only $850,000, and his grandfather lent the remainder on condition that it be repaid with 4% interest.⁠[2][4][1][5]

Eight people were charged in the case and only three were convicted, and almost none of the ransom was recovered. After his release he felt abandoned by his father and grandfather and no longer spoke to either man.⁠[5]

The year after his release he married his then pregnant girlfriend, the German photographer Gisela Martine Zacher, without his family’s approval; they had a son, Balthazar Getty, who became an actor, and they divorced in 1993. During this period he tried to rebuild his life by attending university and frequenting New York’s artists’ colonies, but struggled with the trauma of the kidnapping.⁠[4][5]

In 1981, aged 24 and undergoing treatment for alcohol abuse, he suffered a massive stroke caused by a drug overdose, which left him paralysed, unable to speak and partly blind, confined to a wheelchair for decades and needing round-the-clock care. For about the next 30 years he was cared for by his mother and a team of caregivers.⁠[2][4][5]

His father initially refused to pay his medical bills, holding that his son was to blame for his own misfortune; after a lawsuit by his first wife, Gail Harris, a court in Los Angeles required him to assume the costs.⁠[2][5]

On February 5, 2011, after being gravely ill for some time, John Paul Getty III died at the Wormsley estate in Buckinghamshire, England, which had belonged to his father; he was 54, and the cause of death was not disclosed. His son Balthazar Getty confirmed the death; his survivors included his brother Mark GettyMark GettyMark Getty is the co-founder and chairman of the board of the image company Getty Images and oversees Getty family investments; in Getty Images’ 2026 bankruptcy restructuring, Getty family affiliated entities and Koch Equity Development committed new equity and will jointly own the reorganized company.Open the full entry, the co-founder of Getty ImagesGetty ImagesGetty Images is a visual content company headquartered in Seattle, United States, whose three brands, Getty Images, iStock, and Unsplash, license creative images, editorial images such as news and sports pictures, video, and music. Its holding company, Getty Images Holdings, Inc., was listed on the New York Stock Exchange from 2022 and has traded over the counter since September 2026.Open the full entry.⁠[2][1][5]

In December 2017 the film All the Money in the World, directed by Ridley Scott and based on his kidnapping, was released, with Charlie Plummer as John Paul Getty III, Michelle Williams as his mother Gail Harris and Christopher Plummer as J. Paul Getty. The grandfather’s role had originally been played by Kevin Spacey, who was replaced after misconduct accusations, and the scenes were reshot with Christopher Plummer.⁠[6]