LOS ANGELES — Brittany Murphy was laid to rest on Christmas Eve in a private funeral for the 32-year-actress who died unexpectedly last weekend.
The service at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills featured both Christian and Jewish clergy, with family and close friends singing “Amazing Grace.” The funeral concluded with a reading from The Little Prince, one of Murphy’s favorite books.
“Today a wife, a daughter, a niece, a cousin, a family member and dear friend to thousands was laid to rest,” the star’s family said in a statement. “Brittany was an incredibly loving and passionate person … there are no words that can truly express the devastation felt by Brittany’s husband, mother, and everyone who attended the intimate service.”
Forest Lawn is also the final resting place for such stars as Bette Davis, Lucille Ball, Gene Autry and John Ritter.
Murphy collapsed early last Sunday in the bathroom of her Hollywood Hills home. She was pronounced dead a few hours later at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, which said her death was the result of a cardiac arrest.
An autopsy on the Clueless star’s body was completed on Monday, but her official cause of death is pending the receipt of additional toxicological tests and tissue studies that have been ordered by the deputy medical examiner. Those test results will likely take at least four to six weeks.
One person who didn’t attend the funeral service was Murphy’s father, Angelo Bertolotti, whose last conversation with his daughter took place more than a year ago.
“If I wanted to go, I would go, but I don’t want to see her that way,” the 83-year-old Florida resident told E! News. “She was flawless to me. She was a little bright child. I have only good memories about her. She’s a memory to me now. To me she’s off making a movie somewhere.”
