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| Elizabeth Taylor |
The iconic Hollywood actress died at age 79 a day earlier of congestive heart failure. Forest Lawn is also the final resting place of Taylor's friend, singer Michael Jackson, as well as stars Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Walt Disney and Nat King Cole.
More than 40 family members mourned Taylor during the hour-long service, which was officiated by a rabbi.
Taylor, who was married eight times to seven husbands, converted to Judaism before her wedding to Eddie Fisher in 1959 (check out photos of all of Elizabeth Taylor's husbands). According to traditional Jewish law, a person must be buried within 48 hours of their death.
"The casket was closed and draped with a blanket of abundant, fragrant gardenias, violets, and lily of the valley," the actress' spokesperson said in a statement obtained by OnTheRedCarpet.com. "Miss Taylor was interred in The Great Mausoleum, sheltered beneath a soaring marble Michelangelo angel."
Five black stretch limousines transported Taylor's family to the funeral.
"The service was scheduled to begin at 2 pm but at Miss Taylor's request started late," the spokesperson said. "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.'"
Taylor's friend Colin Farrell recited Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem "The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo," while the actress' son Michael Wilding, her grandson Tarquin Wilding and her daughter Liza Burton Tivey read other selections and Taylor's grandson Rhys Tivey "performed a moving trumpet solo of "Amazing Grace,'" the spokesperson added.
Aside from Tivey and Michael Wilding, Taylor has another son and daughter - Maria Burton Carson and Christopher Wilding. The actress has 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Her family had asked that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.
Taylor was known to the world over the years for her beauty and talent, her AIDS activism and philanthropic work, as well as her many marriages.
The actress, who has in recent years used a wheelchair when appearing in public, is known for roles in films such as "Cleopatra" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
Taylor often appeared in modern pop culture. On the HBO series "Sex and the City," Charlotte, played by Kristin Davis, named her dog, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, after the actress, who she called "the prettiest girl in the world." In 1992, Taylor provided the voice of usually-silent baby Maggie Simpson on the hit animated series "The Simpsons."
Sources: http://www.ontheredcarpet.com
