Sat, Mar 26, 2011 page7

• Liz Taylor buried near Jackson

  • AFP, LOS ANGELES
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  Film icon Elizabeth Taylor was laid to rest on Thursday in the same celebrity cemetery as her long-time friend Michael Jackson — and demonstrated a keen sense of humor to the end.

  The legendary actress, who died on Wednesday aged 79, was sent off with an hour-long private ceremony at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park, where generations of Hollywood stars are buried.

  However, her last wishes were respected, and announced after the service had finished.

  

  A woman signs a condolence book beside a wax figure of Elizabeth Taylor at Madame Tussauds in Hollywood, California, on Wednesday.

  PHOTO: AFP

  “The service was scheduled to begin at 2pm, but at Miss Taylor’s request started late,” said a statement by her publicist.

  “Miss Taylor had left instructions that it was to begin at least 15 minutes later than publicly scheduled, with the announcement: ‘She even wanted to be late for her own funeral,’” it added.

  The film legend and violet-eyed beauty, famed as much for her stormy love life as her five-decade Oscar-winning film career, died early on Wednesday from congestive heart failure at Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai hospital.

  Tributes poured in from Hollywood and beyond for the actress, who won two Oscars — including for the 1966 classic Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? — and was arguably the last great star of cinema’s golden era.

  However, Thursday’s funeral was reserved for a few dozen family and friends, brought in a fleet of black stretch limos to the verdant cemetery, where stars including Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable and Jean Harlow are also interred.

  Irish actor Colin Farrell — a “close friend” — gave a recital of the Gerard Manley Hopkins poem The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo, while other readings were done by her children and grandchildren, her publicist said.

  Taylor’s grandson Rhys Tivey performed a trumpet solo of Amazing Grace, while Rabbi Jerry Cutler officiated at a “multi-denominational” service. Taylor converted to Judaism when she was in her 20s.

  Forest Lawn is where Jackson was buried following his death in June 2009 aged 50, from an overdose of the powerful sedative propofol. Taylor attended that private ceremony.

  During their lives, the pop icon and Hollywood legend were at times inseparable, with homes near each other in the plush Bel Air and Beverly Hills neighborhoods west of Hollywood.

  “I don’t think anyone knew how much we loved each other,” Taylor said after his death. “I loved Michael with all my soul and I can’t imagine life without him. We had so much in common and we had such loving fun together.”

  The TMZ celebrity news Web site published a copy of Taylor’s death certificate, which gave -Forest Lawn as the burial location.

  The certificate listed her causes of death as: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which it said she had for 10 years; congestive heart failure, which she had for five years; and cardiopulmonary arrest, against which was noted five minutes.

  In tribute to Taylor, the association representing New York’s Broadway theaters dimmed their lights yesterday in remembrance of the Hollywood goddess, whose long career included spells on the stage.

  At the same time, it emerged that ailing actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, 94, had been rushed to hospital after hearing the news of Taylor’s death.

  “She was watching the news yesterday morning, she was inconsolable. She said to her husband: ‘Celebrities always go in threes, we’ve had Jane Russell, now it’s Elizabeth, I’m next,’” her spokesman said.
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