LONDON - J. Paul Getty III, the troubled grandson of a U.S. multibillionaire oil magnate who once lost an ear in a grisly kidnapping, has died at age 54.
His son, actor Balthazar Getty, confirmed Tuesday that his father died Saturday surrounded by his family at his English mansion in Buckinghamshire, northwest of London. The cause of death was not disclosed.
Born into vast wealth, J. Paul Getty III gained notoriety when he was kidnapped in Rome in 1973. When the family reportedly stalled on paying a ransom, the kidnappers cut off part of his ear, sending the severed ear to an Italian newspaper to prove they had taken him captive.
The oil heir, then 16, was freed after five months in captivity and a payment of $2.7 million.
He later suffered a stroke while undergoing treatment for alcohol abuse in 1981 and had used a wheelchair since then.
The father of two and grandfather of six "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," Balthazar Getty said in a statement issued by his publicist. "We will miss him terribly."
In some ways, the elder Getty's life captured the turmoil of his time. As the grandson of the late U.S. oil billionaire, J. Paul Getty III was used a pawn when he was kidnapped for ransom while a young man.
Once he was freed, he embraced the hippie counterculture of the late 1960s and 1970s, throwing himself into a life of drugs and parties. He married Gisella Getty and they had a son, Balthazar.
Pictures from that era show J. Paul Getty III looking like a young rock star, with tight blue jeans and ringlets of hair cascading to his shoulders. Although he made few public pronouncements, the fact that a grandson of one of the world's richest oilmen had apparently embraced flower power did not go unnoticed.
The Getty family history, however, is riddled with drug-related woes: J. Paul III's father struggled with a well-publicized drug addition, and his stepmother died from a drug overdose.
