Colin Farrell pays tribute to Elizabeth Taylor

Colin Farrell has hosted a private memorial service for late screen legend Elizabeth Taylor over the weekend.

The 35-year-old actor, who revealed he was close friends with the  actress shortly after she passed away in March this year, joined 400 people, including family and friends, to pay tribute to the Oscar-winning star.

Actor Michael Caine was also in attendance at the service held in the Steven J. Ross Theater at the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank, and Elton John performed his hit song ‘Blue Eyes’.

Taylor’s son Michael Wilding spoke to the mass, telling attendees that it was especially meaningful to have so many friends on hand to celebrate his mother’s spirit.

‘My mother was an extraordinary woman whose life touched so many, most of whom we will never know,’ said Wilding.

‘Our whole family is extremely proud of her accomplishments, and know what a unique and special experience it was to have her in our lives.

‘Today it was especially meaningful for us to be with so many good friends to celebrate her spirit, which will be with us forever.’

A video message, put together by Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf director Mike Nichols, was also shown during the touching service for the violet-eyed beauty.

Taylor had won an Academy Award for her role in Nichols’ 1966 hit film.

Taylor’s grandson Rhys Tivey also performed during the 75 minute service, playing a rendition of Amazing Grace on the trumpet.

According to reports the memorial had been planned for seven months.

The two time Academy Award-winner was 79 when she died on March 23 of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles.

A funeral was held for the actress just days after her death, due to a combination of her Jewish faith, which she adopted in 1959 and which demands speedy burial.

Taylor was interred at the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Parks and Mortuaries in Glendale, California, the same place Michael Jackson, her close friend, was laid to rest in 2009.

The Hollywood icon was buried on a quiet hill outside Los Angeles in a small private ceremony that started 15 minutes after schedule.

Colin opened up about his close friendship with the Hollywood legend a week after her death.

The pair had become so close that the actor was one of the few outsiders who joined her family at the private funeral in March.

Colin told Access Hollywood, ‘I was just lucky enough to become her friend in the last year and a half . I adore her… still.’

The Phone Booth actor revealed how the pair had met and said: ‘How did we become friends?

‘You know, the old story of boy meets girl, and boy pesters girl with too many phone calls at inappropriate hours of the night.’

Taylor had hand-picked the poem for Colin to read at her funeral.

Speaking about the poem, The Leaden Echo and The Golden Echo by Gerard Manley Hopkins, Colin said: ‘Elizabeth chose it. It was a tricky poem as well. Even in passing she had me under the thumb, sweating bricks.’

by Helena Bryanlith

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