Actor Tony Curtis was buried with a melange of his favourite possessions – a Stetson hat, an Armani scarf, driving gloves, an iPhone and a copy of his favourite novel, Anthony Adverse, a book that inspired his celebrity name and launched a robust film career that spanned decades and genres.
The 85-year-old Oscar-nominated actor who starred in such films as The Defiant Ones and Some Like It Hot died today week at his home in Henderson, a Las Vegas suburb, after suffering cardiac arrest.
More than 400 celebrities, fans, friends and family members gathered to say goodbye at a public funeral in Las Vegas.
A montage of Mr Curtis’s famous film roles opened the sometimes solemn, sometimes mirthful service attended by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor Jamie Lee Curtis, porn star Ron Jeremy and Vera Goulet, widow of Broadway singer Robert Goulet.
The crowd laughed as an animated Curtis appeared in a scene from the television series The Flintstones and sparred with actor Kirk Douglas in Spartacus.
Inside, seven colourful paintings and three black-and-white drawings by Mr Curtis stood on easels, while a photo of the young, dark-haired actor was projected on a screen. The coffin was draped with an American flag.
Jamie Lee Curtis, Mr Curtis’s daughter from his first marriage with Psycho actress Janet Leigh, became tearful as she described a man who was, she said, “a little meshuga” – Yiddish for crazy – but always full of life.
The father and daughter were estranged for a long period but eventually reconciled. Mr Curtis took pride in his daughter’s on-screen credits, which include Perfect, Halloween, True Lies and the new comedy You Again.
Mr Schwarzenegger said Mr Curtis refused to feel old.
“I mean, who has the guts to take off their clothes at the age of 80?” Mr Schwarzenegger said, recalling Mr Curtis’ naked photo shoot in Vanity Fair in 2005.
Mr Curtis’s sixth wife, Jill Curtis, eulogised her husband of 12 years. She recalled how he easily dismissed their 45-year age difference when friends asked if he was worried about keeping up with a younger wife.
The funeral was followed by the burial and then a reception for more than 100 invited guests at the Luxor hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Jill Curtis, who Mr Curtis affectionately called Jillie, said her husband would have approved of the festive goodbye.
“Tony didn’t like funerals,” she said. “He didn’t want to make it funeral-y, more like a celebration.”
Known for his transformation from a pigeonholed pretty boy in the late 1940s and early 1950s to a serious actor, Mr Curtis reshaped himself over decades of work and made himself impossible to typecast.