House of Getty [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Russell Miller (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 750 pages
• Publisher: John Curley & Assoc; Lrg edition (May 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1850571287
• ISBN-13: 978-1850571285
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,061,152 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Russell Miller is a prize-winning journalist and the author of eight previous books. His oral histories of D-Day, Nothing Less Than Victory, and the Special Operations Executive, Behind the Lines, were widely acclaimed. His most recent book was Codename Tricycle: The True Story of the Second World War's Most Extraordinary Double Agent. He lives in Britain.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Fiction! The bizarre life of a 20th Century Icon, February 4, 2009

By 

Mark Werling "Pianist, Musician" (Columbus OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The House of Getty (Hardcover)

I am surprised no filmmaker has come across this book and paging through it hasn't thought, "HOLLYWOOD BLOCKBUSTER MOVIE" as of yet. The life of Jean-Paul Getty, the oil tycoon, and household-name billionaire of America's 40's-mid-60's, is so full of intrigue, fortune, tragedy, and comedy, as well as the fact that he being the FIRST major player OIL tycoon of the 20th century, and how timely a subject wouldn't this be today? The scene we've often seen in movies where there's the swimming pool with guests all about, and "Splash" the host falls in the pool? Began as a news story (early 40's? maybe, where JeanPaul Getty was tipped into his pool at a famous party. The scene in the movies where we have desert sands, and a big Pink Cadillac convertable, riders donned with rifles and shotguns, racing about shooting game? A true story of JeanPaul Getty entertaining Saudi Arabians in his first negotiations with them for drilling oil in their lands. Getty was the first American to deal with the Arabs for their oil in the new booming auto industry Henry Ford had initiated. How timely is a story like this? None of Getty's four children inherited his fortunes. His favorite, the eldest, died young. The second oldest became a musician, and was found once waiting on a cab, singing an opera score, only to be reminded his car was just around the corner. 3rd youngest was a hippy who hanged out with the Rolling Stones and used drugs. Lived in a castle in Italy. Then, was kidnapped, and Getty refused to pay the ransom. They cut of his ear and mailed it to Getty, ... he STILL refused to pay it! I forget the rest of the details but he was released, and spent the rest of his days in Sunny California hanging out with artists, hippies and rockers, as a parapalegic, a condition he brought on himself. So nonetheless, all of Getty's money went to his museum in Los ANgeles, still standing, and still today, the art world at auction time has to deal with "the Getty Factor" because Jean Paul Getty was a reknown collector of great art, and had the money to bid on it.WHY OH WHY hasn't Hollywood picked up on THIS GREAT BIOGRAPHY and made a BLOCKBUSTER MOVIE OUT OF THIS?? Beats me.