The weirdest celebrity dying wishes – including Elizabeth Taylor's

Elizabeth was a diva even in death, and requested that she be fashionably late to her own funeral after her passing in 2011. 

The service was set to begin at 2 p.m., but the actress insisted that her coffin be brought in 15 minutes later to keep the guests on their toes.

"The service was scheduled to begin at 2 pm, but at Miss Taylor's request [it] started late," said her publicist in a statement. 

"Miss Taylor had left instructions that it was to begin at least 15 minutes later than publicly scheduled, with the announcement: 'She even wanted to be late for her own funeral.'"

In addition to being late to the big event, Elizabeth had one other request: that she be buried with a love letter written to her by her ex-husband, Richard Burton, before he died in 1984.

According to her biographers, Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger, Elizabeth told them what the letter contained before she passed. "In it he told me what he wanted. Home was where Elizabeth was, and he wanted to come home."

The legendary rapper was just 25 when he was shot dead at a traffic light in Las Vegas in an act of revenge following a physical altercation earlier in the evening. Tupac had an odd request for his friends, though; he wanted the members of his old hip-hop group, The Outlawz, to smoke his ashes after his death.

"Yes, it's definitely true," his friend Young Noble later confirmed to VladTV. 

"Had a little memorial for him with his mum and his family. We had hit the beach, threw [in] a lot of s*** he liked at the beach. Some weed, some chicken wings, he loved orange soda... Pac loved that kind of s***, so we were giving him our own farewell."

His friend EDI Mean added that Tupac's request came in the form of a song lyric. "I came up with that s***. If you listen to 'Black Jesus', he said, 'Last wishes…smoke my ashes'. That was a request that he had. Now, how serious he was about it? We took it serious."

Tupac's friend and Death Row Records founder Suge Knight later claimed to People that the rapper actually didn't want to be cremated. 

"He told me, 'When I go, I want every rapper at my funeral to grab the mic. I want them to kiss me head to toe. Just like in 'Life Goes On.' He didn't want to be cremated."

When Old Hollywood star Tony Curtis died from a heart attack in 2010, he wanted to be buried with his favourite things. 

This included his Stetson hat, his Armani scarf, his iPhone, his driving gloves, his favourite novel, Anthony Adverse, his dog's ashes, and even packets of Splenda (the artificial sweetener).

The iconic illusionist and stunt performer made it his mission throughout his life to debunk the occult, including psychics and mediums who claimed to be able to commune with the dead.

As such, one of his dying wishes was for his beloved wife Bess to hold an annual séance on Halloween to try to contact him using a code only he would know.

After his death in October 1926 from peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal wall), Bess tried every year for a decade to contact her husband from beyond the grave to no avail.

"Since my last séance proved a failure, after 10 years of constant and trying efforts, I'm firmly convinced that communication with the dead is a human impossibility," Bess reportedly said at the time. "I challenge any medium who proclaims tangible proof."

The tribute has become a tradition in the years since, with fans of the late escape artist holding a séance each year to try and contact him.

The acclaimed novelist and journalist died aged 67 in February 2005, and instead of a regular burial, he chose to have his ashes shot out of a cannon at his home in Colorado.

Not only that, but he wanted the cannon to be inside a giant 47-metre-high tower topped with the Gonzo fist, a symbol of both himself and Gonzo journalism – a highly subjective reporting style.

"It's expensive, but worth every penny," his wife, Anita Thompson, told CBS News. "I'd like to have several explosions. He loved explosions." 

His close friend, Johnny Depp, who starred in the film adaptation of Hunter's 1971 novel, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, reportedly forked out $3 million to make his dying wish come true.

"We had talked a couple of times about his last wishes to be shot out of a cannon of his own design. I just want to send my pal out the way he wants to go out," Johnny told the Associated Press.

The country singer passed away in 1999 following a breast cancer battle, and as she left behind no spouse and no children, her cat got special treatment in her will. 

Dusty's dying wish was that her 13-year-old ragdoll cat, Nicholas, be fed only baby food imported from the US to the UK, live in an indoor treehouse, be put to sleep each night by a sound system playing her hit songs, have his bed lined with her old pillowcase and nightgown, and be "married" to her friend's cat.

The iconic rocker was just 27 when she passed away in 1970 following an accidental overdose. Instead of a funeral, Janis wanted her friends and family to throw a huge party in her honour, and even left $2,500 in her will for just that.

As a result, a big bash was put on at the Lion's Share club in California after she died, and her loved ones sent her off in style. 

Janis had gotten the idea from the funeral of Hells Angel "Chocolate George" Hendricks in 1967, as she told The Age of Rock writer Michael Thomas.

"We got lots of beer, and the [Angels] got the Dead and us [to play]. It was just a beautiful thing; all the hippies and Angels were just stoned out of their heads…You couldn't imagine a better funeral. It was the greatest party in the world."

The inventor of Pringles loved his work so much that he requested that some of his ashes be put in a Pringles can after his death and buried. Fred died from Alzheimer's disease in 2008, aged 89, and his children honoured his strange wish.

"When my dad first raised the burial idea in the 1980s, I chuckled about it," his son Larry later told TIME. "My siblings and I briefly debated what flavour to use, but I said, ‘Look, we need to use the original.'"