The Most Ostentatious Celebrity Funerals

Princess Diana

The "People's Princess" was one of the most universally loved celebrities in the world, so when she died in a shocking automobile accident in 1997 it's no surprise that her funeral would be a major event.

More than one million people lined the streets of London to watch the funeral procession to Westminster Abbey, where Elton John sang a rewritten version of "Candle In The Wind" with new lyrics about Diana. The service was watched by more than two billion people around the world, making it one of the most-watched television programs of all time.

Willie McCoy

Texas-born singer Willie McCoy might not have the same level of fame as some of the other people on this list, but he sure made up for that with his funeral. McCoy was probably best known as the bass voice in the "Baby Back Ribs" jingle used by restaurant chain Chili's, so when he passed away he wanted to do it in barbecue style. McCoy's body was interred in a custom-built coffin shaped like a smoker, the pastor accessorized with a chef's hat and there were even live pigs at the ceremony.

Hunter S. Thompson

Sure, the financial cost of the disposal of famed gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson wasn't terrifically high, but the amount of work that went into it was something else. Before his suicide in 2005, Thompson made plans for a 153-foot high tower to be built on his estate in the shape of a fist clutching a peyote button.

Actor Johnny Depp paid for the construction, and later that year Thompson's ashes were brought to the top and blasted out of a cannon over a crowd of famous mourners that included John Kerry, Sean Penn and Jack Nicholson.

Ronald Reagan

No matter what you think of his policies, you can't deny that the Gipper was a President beloved by a lot of people. When Ronald Reagan passed away in 2004, it started a funerary celebration that would last seven days, including a viewing in Washington, DC.

Total costs were in the millions of dollars. President Bush declared June 11th a National Day of Mourning for the fallen President and gave Federal employees the day off, which is estimated to have cost the United States a staggering $400 million.

James Brown

The Godfather of Soul was never one to do things halfway, so when the R&B legend passed away in 2006 he had not one, not two, but three funerals. The first happened at Harlem's Apollo Theatre, where Brown's body was placed in a Promethean casket and drawn through the streets in a horse-drawn carriage.

The second happened at the James Brown Arena in Augusta, Georgia, where Brown's backing bands played the hits as mourners were served food. Amazingly, Brown's trademark mid-show costume changes even happened at his funeral.

Alexander Harris

Florida hip-hop mogul Alexander Bernard Harris wasn't a player on the level of a Suge Knight, but he did well enough in the rap game to enjoy the finer things in life. So when he was gunned down at a barbershop in 2003, his last wish was to be buried in his banana-yellow Lamborghini Murcielago.

Harris's memorial featured his embalmed corpse sitting in the driver's seat of the luxury sportscar as friends and family paid his respects. He was buried in an $18,000 glass coffin, though, so he didn't get to drive through the Pearly Gates.

Anna Nicole Smith

After rising to fame as a Guess! model, Anna Nicole Smith quickly transformed into a bloated, ridiculous figure of tabloid fun. After she was found dead in a Hard Rock Hotel in Florida in 2007, her body was transported to the Bahamas for burial.

The event was an outrageously costly spectacle, held at a church inside a private gated community. Smith's solid mahogany coffin arrived by private jet and was carried down a red carpet.  The organizers did manage to make some money back, though, by charging camera crews between $2000 and $5000 to shoot the ceremony.

Rudolph Valentino

Widely considered the first true movie star, Italian-born Rudolph Valentino was one of the biggest sex symbols of the 1920s. His smoldering visage dominated the silent era, and when he died unexpectedly from appendicitis in 1926 it was a gigantic shock.

Valentino's death brought 100,000 fans out into the streets of New York City, and newspapers reported suicides and riots. However, this isn't entirely true: although people did mourn Valentino's passing, much of the crowd was paid for as a publicity stunt by the funeral home to drum up publicity - they also hired a quartet of actors to impersonate a fascist Italian honor guard "sent by Benito Mussolini."