J Paul Getty III

He grew up in Rome, the oldest of four children of John Paul Getty II, who ran the family's oil concerns in Italy. As a red-haired toddler, he was said to be one of his grandfather's favorites. After his parents divorced in 1964, he saw little of his father and remained in Italy with his mother, former actress Gail Harris. On July 10, 1973, after a night of carousing with hippie friends, he was abducted by several men and driven 200 miles to a hiding place in the mountains of Calabria. Four months into the kidnapping, a package arrived at the offices of a Rome newspaper. It contained a lock of red hair and a moldy human ear, His billionaire grandfather yielded to the demands a short time later. A year after his release, at age 18, Getty married Martine Zacher, who was six years his senior. His grandfather disapproved of his marrying so young and disinherited him. When the senior Getty died in 1976, he left $500 to his son and nothing to his grandson. Mr. Getty’s marriage ended in divorce. Beside his son, the actor Balthazar Getty, survivors include his mother, who cared for him after his stroke; a brother, Mark; two sisters, Aileen and Ariadne; a stepdaughter, Anna Getty, and six grandchildren and stepgrandchildren.