5 Celebrities Who Made Their Funeral Wishes Known

There’s something quite alluring about celebrities, isn’t there? Whether it’s the musician who makes us sing in the car until our lungs can’t take any more, or our favourite actor whose movies or TV shows never fail to make us laugh, cry or both. They are almost quite ethereal, yet they are merely human beings.

And like every other human being that has ever, and will ever, walk this earth; they are mortal. And when their time is up, it reminds us that we, too, are as human as the likes of John Lennon, Carrie Fisher, Whitney Houston, David Bowie, Robin Williams, and even the late, great Betty White.

But even celebrities consider their own mortality and what comes after, with some even going as far as to articulate their funeral wishes…

Charles Dickens

People have been trying to break through traditional funeral barriers for years – over 200, in fact. And I’m speaking specifically about Charles Dickens. Before he died, he wrote clearly in his will that he wanted a private burial that was “inexpensive” and “ unostentatious”. He also requested a dress code, forbidding any mourner from wearing a scarf, black bow, long hatband or “other such revolting absurdity”. I suppose this is a very Charles Dickens way of saying “just wear what makes you feel comfortable”. 

Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor was always fashionably late in life. But could you imagine being late to your own funeral? Well, in 2011, Elizabeth Taylor arrived 15 minutes late to her funeral service, because that’s exactly what she wished for. But that is what a funeral is all about, isn’t it? A moment to reflect on the life lived… even if it occasionally lacked punctuality.

David Bowie

David Bowie, the iconic ‘Ziggy Stardust’ singer, lived a life on the grand stage. However, his funeral wishes were a poignant contrast. Despite selling out stadiums around the world for decades, the ‘Life on Mars’ singer wanted “no fuss, no big show, no fan-fare” after he died from an 18-month battle with cancer. So his family gave him a direct cremation, a send-off in line with his deeply private lifestyle.

Paul O’Grady

Now Paul O’Grady is a fine example of how talking about your own funeral can be done with a touch of humour. During an interview, Paul confessed that after a series of heart attacks, he had given a great deal of thought to his funeral wishes and service, and most notably how he wanted to be remembered. Paul joked about how he wanted to be buried in a glass coffin and guarded by Snow White’s seven dwarves.

Though a Disney fairytale it was not, Paul’s funeral was a touching tribute to a man who dedicated his life to animals, with a beautiful Guard of Honour tribute from Battersea Dogs Home.

Doris Day

According to her manager and close friend Bob Bashara, Doris Day “didn’t like death, and had difficulty accepting it”. To some, that is also the case, and it can be a very good reason to ignore the topic altogether. But not for Doris Day, it became a reflection of her legacy. In the end, she decided against a funeral at all, and just asked that people visited her animal foundation instead. Despite not having a funeral, Doris Day was celebrated in death as she was loved in life, with humility and kindness. 

In these glimpses into the final wishes of iconic figures, we find humour and irony, but most importantly we find touches of the people that they were. And as the likes of Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Taylor, David Bowie, Paul O’Grady, and Doris Day remind us, even the stars fade, but what remains is the impact we choose to leave behind.

No matter who we are, we have a choice over how we are remembered. Whether it’s kindness to animals, charitable causes, our famous home-cooked recipes or our favourite places to be. How do our closest friends and family know how we want our life to be celebrated, if we don’t tell them? It starts with just a simple conversation…