10 Times Celebrities Were Held Hostage

10 Times Celebrities Have Been Held Hostage

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the 10 times celebrities have been held hostage.

For this list, we’ll be looking at prominent public figures who have been kidnapped and held hostage. We’ll be excluding celebrity animals, like the kidnapping of popular racehorse Shergar.

Which of these stories do you find the most harrowing? Let us know in the comments.

Jeremy London

In 2010, Jeremy London, best known for his roles in the 90s shows “Party of Five” and “7th Heaven”, was changing a tire in Palm Springs, California. After some men stopped to help him, he offered them a lift home. In exchange however, they allegedly held him at gunpoint and forced him to drive around for 12 hours! London claims that during the journey, they forced him to take various drugs. At the time, he was a recovering addict. Fortunately, he managed to escape. After the incident, London’s mother and brother cast doubt on his story. However, one of the suspected kidnappers was arrested and pleaded guilty.

Veruska Ramírez

Abandoned as a child and raised in poverty, Veruska Ramírez stepped into the spotlight when she was crowned Miss Venezuela in 1997. The following year, she placed first runner up to Miss Universe 1998. Five years later however, she was kidnapped off the street in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. She apparently spent three hours in captivity, but was released after she signed autographs for her abductors. Yes, all that for a few autographs. She was dropped off in a dangerous part of the city, but wasn’t hurt in the ordeal.

John Paul Getty III

The grandson of a wealthy oil tycoon, John Paul Getty III was 16 when he was kidnapped in Rome in July 1973. His grandfather, J. Paul Getty, was at the time one of the richest men in the world … but also infamously stingy. The kidnappers took their prize to a cave in southern Italy and demanded a hefty ransom. At first, the family suspected it was a hoax, a ploy by Getty III to extract money from his grandfather. However, the kidnappers escalated by sending his ear in the mail … The elder J. Paul Getty agreed to pay, but only the highest amount that was tax deductible; he leant the rest of the ransom to his son at 4% interest.

Rubén Omar Romano

This Argentine-Mexican football coach has managed over a dozen clubs since 1996. In July, 2005, he was coaching the Mexican club Cruz Azul when he was kidnapped by a man named Omar Sandoval Orihuela. Romano was snatched outside the club’s practice facility in Mexico City and held hostage for the next two months. The kidnapping drew the interest of Mexico’s Federal Investigation Agency, who managed to rescue Romano in September. He actually returned to coaching just a few days after his safe return. His kidnapper was charged and sentenced to 26 years in prison.

Cindy Birdsong

Singer Cindy Birdsong is best known as a member of The Supremes, which she joined in 1967, after leaving her band The Bluebells. However, fame seems to have brought new perils. In December of 1969, Birdsong’s neighbor and maintenance man Charles Collier broke into her Los Angeles apartment. Held at knifepoint, she was forced to tie up her two male friends and get into her car. As Collier drove the car, she managed to jump out and was rescued by Highway Patrol officers. Collier surrendered to police in Las Vegas. Birdsong suffered minor knife wounds, but was otherwise unharmed.

Frank Sinatra Jr.

As with John Paul Getty III, Sinatra Jr.’s family connections got him into serious trouble. When Sinatra was 19 years old, he was kidnapped from the Nevada hotel Harrah's Lake Tahoe. He was held captive for two days while the kidnappers demanded a ransom of $240,000. Today, that’s over $2 million. The entire process was conducted by payphone, and in the end, Sinatra agreed to pay up. Sinatra Jr. was returned safely, and three people were later charged with the crime. Head kidnapper Barry Keenan was sentenced to life, but only served four years after being declared legally insane.

Benedict Cumberbatch

Before he became a household name, Benedict Cumberbatch was kidnapped in South Africa. He was there filming the miniseries “To the Ends of the Earth” when the car he was traveling in with a friend and actress Denise Black got a flat tire. As they changed it, six men pulled up and forced them into their car. After being frisked, a terrified Cumberbatch was bound and thrown into the trunk, but managed to persuade the men to let him out. While no one was injured, it left Cumberbatch seriously shaken and with a new perspective on life.

Fats Waller

A Grammy Hall of Fame inductee, Fats Waller is revered for his innovative jazz piano work. Early in his career, in 1926, Waller was kidnapped after a performance in Chicago. Snatched off the street, he was taken to a local hotel owned by Al Capone. As Waller was ordered into the hotel at gunpoint, he thought it was all over for him. Instead, he was brought to a party and ordered to play the piano. It was then that he realized the truth - he was the celebrity musical act at Al Capone’s birthday party.

Shin Sang-ok

Known as The Prince of South Korean Cinema, Shin Sang-ok was a prominent filmmaker throughout the 50s and 60s. Unfortunately, that talent drew the attention of none other than Kim Jong-il, the son and future successor of North Korean leader Kim Il-sung. In 1978, Shin and his wife Choi Eun-hee were kidnapped in Hong Kong and brought to North Korea. Kim Jong-il wished to legitimize his nation on the world stage and ordered Shin to make high quality films. Shin was kept in captivity for eight years and ended up making seven films for the country. In 1986, he and his wife finally escaped while attending a film festival in Vienna.

The Israeli Olympic Team

The 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, was marred by tragedy. During the second week of the games, the Palestinian militant organization Black September kidnapped eleven members of Israel’s delegation, including athletes, coaches, and officials. Two of the hostages were killed during the attempt. Black September demanded the release of 234 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, as well as two German insurgents in West Germany. Sadly, during a poorly planned rescue mission, all of the hostages were killed. Known as The Munich Massacre, it’s arguably the most infamous event in Olympics history.