Jamie Lee Curtis’ Emotional Funeral Farewell To Father Tony

Actress JAMIE LEE CURTIS fought back tears as she paid tribute to her late father TONY CURTIS at a private memorial service in Las Vegas on Monday (04Oct10).

The Some Like It Hot star passed away on Wednesday (29Sep10) after suffering a cardiac arrest.

More than 400 mourners attended the service at Palm Mortuary & Cemetery and watched a moving film tribute to the late star.

During the ceremony, the actor’s daughter Jamie Lee delivered a moving tribute, and joked, “All of us got something from him. I, of course, got his desperate need for attention.”

Actor-turned-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger also spoke at the service and recalled his movie mentor encouraging him to break into Hollywood despite his thick Austrian accent.

Schwarzenegger revealed how Curtis told him, “You are going to make it. Don’t pay any attention to those guys. I heard the same thing when I came here.”

Curtis was laid to rest in his favourite Armani scarf and driving gloves - and his widow Jill lightened the mood by telling mourners how the legend always wanted to take to the wheel again in his later years.

She said, “He was always, right up to the end, plotting ways to get his drivers license back.”

But she brought friends and family to tears when she paid tribute to her husband, declaring: “He was a once-in-a lifetime man.”

She added, “People always wonder what he was really like. He was exactly like you thought he would be. He was that charming, handsome man you saw on the screen.”

The funeral was due to be followed by a burial and then a reception for 200 invited guests at the Luxor hotel.