Elizabeth Taylor Late To Her Own Funeral

Even in death, Dame Liz is still showing you snitches the appropriate way to make an entrance.

Take notes. There’ll be a quiz on this later.

The Cleopatra star, who passed away of congestive heart failure on Wednesday, ensured a grand entrance at her funeral on Thursday by leaving instructions for the service to begin 15 minutes late. Taylor showed off her legendary sense of humor one last time as she poked fun at her notorious tardiness with a late start to her memorial.

“The service was scheduled to begin at 2 pm but at Miss Taylor’s request started late. 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,” a spokesperson for the family explains.

The Hollywood icon and social activist was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, in a low-key ceremony which featured a poetry reading by Colin Farrell. One of Taylor’s grandson, Rhys Tivey, paid tribute to the star by playing Amazing Grace on the trumpet in her honor.

Following Elizabeth’s death this week, The Abbey, the famous gay bar-nightclub in West Hollywood, honored the late star with a shrine. Dame Elizabeth herself donated the portrait of herself, which hangs above the cozy fireplace where the shrine is set up. The Abbey – which the actress was known to have frequented quite often in the past five years – will be also donating the proceeds from cocktail sales this weekend to her foundation, The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. If you’re in the Los Angeles area, stop by and have a drink in honor of Elizabeth. We’re sure The Dame would approve of raising an Apple-tini in her honor!

And film fans in The Big Apple should keep an eye on the lights of Broadway tonight. The Great White will dim its lights at 8 PM this evening in honor of Taylor.