John Paul Getty Jr. facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sir
Paul Getty
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| Born |
Eugene Paul Getty
7 September 1932 near Genoa, Kingdom of Italy
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| Died | 17 April 2003 (aged 70) Westminster, London, England
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| Citizenship | British, American |
| Education | St. Ignatius College Preparatory |
| Alma mater | University of San Francisco |
| Spouse(s) |
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| Children | 5, including John III, Mark and Ariadne |
| Parents |
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| Family | Getty |
Sir Paul Getty KBE (/ˈɡɛti/; born Eugene Paul Getty; 7 September 1932 – 17 April 2003), known widely as John Paul Getty Jr., was a British-American philanthropist and book collector. He was the third of five sons born to J. Paul Getty (1892–1976), one of the richest men in the world at the time. His mother was J. Paul Getty's fourth wife, Ann Rork. The Getty family's wealth was the result of the oil business founded by George Franklin Getty. One of his sons, Mark Getty, co-founded the visual media company Getty Images.
At birth, he was given the name Eugene Paul Getty, but in later life, he adopted other names, including Paul Getty, John Paul Getty, Jean Paul Getty Jr. and John Paul Getty II. In 1973, his son John Paul Getty III was held captive in Italy, as J. Paul Getty refused to pay a ransom. In 1986, he was awarded an honorary knighthood for services to causes ranging from cricket, to art and to the Conservative Party. His honorary knighthood would eventually become substantive upon the required acquisition of British citizenship. A long-time Anglophile, he became a British citizen in 1997. In 1998, he changed his name by deed poll when he renounced the first name Eugene and wished to be known as Sir Paul Getty KBE.
Early life
John Paul Jr. was born on board ship in the waters near Genoa, Italy, on 7 September 1932, while his parents Ann and J. Paul Getty were travelling. His birth was registered at La Spezia with the name Eugenio Paul Getty, when the Italian notary misheard the name John. He would legally alter his name with the Italian authorities to John Paul in 1958.
He was initially raised in Los Angeles, California, United States. His parents' marriage was troubled by J. Paul's long absences abroad and his emotional distance. Ann Getty divorced J. Paul Getty Sr. in 1936 in Reno, Nevada, claiming emotional cruelty and neglect. She was awarded $1,000 per month in child support for each of her sons, Paul Jr. and Gordon.
In 1938, Ann married her third husband, Joseph Stanton McInerney, and the family moved to San Francisco. Paul Jr. attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory and the University of San Francisco, both Jesuit schools. Throughout his adolescence, he showed a great interest in reading and music, encouraged by his mother. In 1950 he was drafted to serve in the Korean War, spending the duration working at the American headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. After he was discharged he met Abigail Harris, the daughter of a prominent San Franciscan federal judge, and the two were married in early 1956. His first child, John Paul Getty III was born in November 1956. The following year he approached his brother Gordon, vice-president of the Getty subsidiary Tidewater Petroleum, asking for a job. His brother gave him a job pumping gas at a Tidewater gas station in Marin County. After a year, his father, whom he had not seen in 12 years, was favourably impressed enough to invite his family and him to Paris, where he offered Paul Jr. a job as president of Getty Oil's Italian subsidiary, Getty Oil Italiana, in Rome.
Marriages
His first marriage was to Abigail "Gail" Harris, a former water polo champion. They divorced in 1964, having had four children: John Paul Getty III, Mark Getty, Ariadne Getty and Aileen Getty. His daughter, Aileen Getty, is an AIDS activist formerly married to Elizabeth Taylor's son Christopher Wilding; married since 2005 to Bartolomeo Ruspoli (b 1978), son of Prince Alessandro Ruspoli.
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His second marriage was to the Dutch actress, model and style icon Talitha Pol, stepdaughter of painter Augustus John's daughter Poppet, on 10 December 1966. The two posed for an iconic photograph on a rooftop in Marrakesh, Morocco, in January 1969. The photo, taken by Patrick Lichfield, shows Talitha Getty crouched down leaning on a wall and her husband in the background in a hooded djellaba and sunglasses. The photo appeared in American Vogue and again in the September 1999 issue of American Vogue and is part of the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London. Two and a half years after the photo was taken, Talitha died on 11 July 1971. She was survived by her son with Getty, Tara Gabriel Gramophone Galaxy Getty (born June 1968), an ecological conservationist in Africa. Tara attended Milton Abbey School in the village of Milton Abbas, near the market town of Blandford Forum in Dorset in South West England. In 1994, he married for the third time to Victoria Holdsworth.
Later life
Following his father's death in 1976, Getty spent the next decade suffering from depression and checked himself into The London Clinic in 1984. While there, he received a visit from Margaret Thatcher, who at the time was Prime Minister, to thank him for large donations to the National Gallery. During a low period in the 1970s, Getty was cheered up by former England cricketer and later president of the MCC, Gubby Allen, having previously been introduced to the game by Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones.
Wormsley Park
During his nine-month stint in The London Clinic, Getty purchased a dilapidated country estate in Buckinghamshire, Wormsley Park, on the advice of his close friend Christopher Gibbs. After his release in March 1986, he devoted himself to remodeling the 18th-century mansion and restoring the 3,000 acres of parkland. This included the creation of a deer park, the reforestation of 1,500 acres of beechwood forest, and the dredging of a man-made four-acre lake with water tapped from an aquifer 400 feet below ground. Along with the restoration of the Georgian mansion house, Getty added a castle-like addition made of local flint built to house his extensive library, an indoor heated pool, and a replica of The Oval cricket ground. To house his disabled son, he had an accessible cottage built near the pool, from where he could do his water rehabilitation exercises. The six-year project cost an estimated £60 million.
At Wormsley, Getty hosted his estranged family and improved his relations with his children and ex-wife. To inaugurate his professional cricket ground, Getty hosted a match in May 1992 captained by Imran Khan and Bob Wyatt, with the Prime Minister, John Major and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother as his guests of honour. His eponymous cricket eleven comprised cricketing stars of both past and present assembled by his honorary cricket managers, Brian Johnston (1992–1993) and Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie (1994–2006).
Philanthropy
Getty donated more than £140m to artistic and cultural causes, from which the National Gallery received £50m. He was appointed Knight of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 1987, but as a foreign national could not use the title "Sir". In December 1997, Getty was granted British citizenship and renounced his US nationality. The Queen reportedly commented: "Now you can use your title. Isn't that nice?"
Getty served as president of Surrey County Cricket Club and gave money to Lord's Cricket Ground to build a new stand. He combined his loves of cricket and books when he purchased the ownership of Wisden, the famous publishers of the cricketing almanack. Getty built an extraordinary library at Wormsley, collecting such treasures as a first edition of Chaucer, Ben Jonson's annotated copy of Spenser, and Shakespeare Folios. He was a notable member of the exclusive Roxburghe Club, famous among book collectors. He commissioned a facsimile copy of The Great Book of Thomas Trevilian.
His personal fortune was estimated at £1.6 billion. His donations included support for the National Gallery, the British Museum, the British Film Institute, Hereford Cathedral, St Paul's Cathedral, the Imperial War Museum, and St. James Catholic Church. Some of his donations, including contributions toward the purchases of Canova's The Three Graces by The National Galleries of Scotland and the Madonna of the Pinks by Raphael, foiled acquisition efforts by the J. Paul Getty Museum endowed by his father. In June 2001, Getty gave £5 million to the Conservative Party. He endowed a £20 million charitable trust to support the arts, conservation and social welfare.
Death
Getty died at age 70 on 17 April 2003, having been admitted for treatment to The London Clinic for a chest infection.
Media portrayals
Getty Jr. is portrayed by Andrew Buchan in the action film All the Money in the World and by Michael Esper in the television series Trust, both of which dramatize Getty III's kidnapping.
