Heath Ledger’s funeral will be held today. His family has flown into New York from Australia for the private service. They’ve made no plans for a public memorial, so unless someone else plans one, it appears that Heath’s fans will make do with the mountains of flowers, letters, and candles that they’ve left outside his Soho apartment.

Services for Heath Ledger will remain private, a rep for the late actor said in a statement Friday. Various reports have said Ledger would be buried in his hometown of Perth, Australia, but no official plans have been announced.

“At this time, we will not be releasing any information,” the rep says. “There are no plans for a public service.”

Ledger, 28, was found dead in his SoHo apartment Tuesday and his family is set to arrive in Manhattan Friday for his funeral.

[From People]

Some of Heath’s fans have expressed some annoyance that there won’t be a public memorial. I think it’s important to remember that as sad as it is for the public, there’s really no way it compares to the sadness his family feels. They loved him as a son, brother, and father, not as an actor, and they deserve to deal with this privately. It seems like sometimes we think that because someone is a public figure, we “own” them or “have a right to them,” which really isn’t the case.

Heath’s family wrote a little in the death notices section of the “West Australian” today.

How do we describe our sudden and tragic loss? … You were the most amazing individual “old soul” in a young man’s body.

You so loved us, as we dearly loved you. As a close knit and very private family unit we have observed you so determined yet quietly travelling in your self-styled path in life, nothing would get in your way … no mountain too tall, no river too wide.

You dreamed your dreams and lived them with passion and intelligent commitment. We have been privileged to accompany you on a ride through life that has simply been amazing and through it all, we have loved each other beyond imagination.

Your true legacy lives on in beautiful little Matilda, who will always remain in the greatest of care. Our hearts are broken.

[From People]

In the media, once the funeral is held the attention dies down and the story tends to wrap up. There will be a little more attention once the autopsy results come back, and some notes here and there, but for the most part everyone moves on. For Heath’s family, this is just starting. We keep them in our thoughts.

Picture note by Celebitchy: photos of the memorial outside Heath Ledger’s apartment thanks to PRPhotos.

25-year-old actor Brad Renfro’s funeral and memorial service were held yesterday in his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee. Renfro was found dead last Tuesday morning by friends. He’d had a long history of drug and alcohol problems, and had been arrested several times, once in a highly publicized sting by the L.A.P.D. Though he’d been on probation, he was found to be in violation of it this past summer for failing to enroll in a long-term drug treatment program. Renfro first found fame when he was 12 after starring in “The Client” with Susan Sarandon. Unfortunately he went the way of many former child actors, and struggled with his addictions.

Renfro’s great-uncle Michael Earl officiated at the service.

An arrangement of red, white and yellow flowers adorned the closed casket, along with a photograph of a young, smiling Renfro, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. Approximately 600 well-wishers, including Renfro’s father and stepmother, Mark and Kim Renfro, and his mother, Angel Olsen, paid their respects. The actor’s maternal grandmother, Judy Hurt, half-sister Haley Olsen and stepbrother Dane Hoffmeister, also attended. His paternal grandmother, Joanne Renfro, who raised Renfro from the age of 5, was too ill to make it.

During his sermon, he [great-uncle Michael Earl] hinted at the actor’s past problems with drug addiction, according to the News Sentinel.

“Brad had problems just like I have problems, just like you have problems, just like all of us have trials and tribulations that we go through,” Earl said. “Was Brad perfect? Well, I can tell you, I’m not. Are you? He lived life, and he enjoyed it,” Earl later said of the actor. “Whatever he did, he did it hard as he could. … If he messed up, he’d go after it 100 percent. Yeah, I know him. And yes, I loved him.”

[From Us Weekly]

Though I could find several articles say that Renfro was raised by his grandmother, none of them state why. It’s an unusual circumstance, considering both of his parents are alive and supposedly well. It sounds like Brad’s uncle did a good job eulogizing him. He was honest and still kind. Though you want to only say nice things after someone dies, everyone knew about Brad’s struggles, so there was no point in any BS.

Sir Ian McKellen, who worked with Renfro on “Apt Pupil” wrote a nice tribute to Brad on his website. It says in part,

I first caught sight of Brad Renfro when he was kicking a football around with Bryan Singer on the half-built set of Apt Pupil in Hollywood. He was a kid having fun and that’s how I shall always remember him. But he was more than that. He was a proper actor and when we worked together he was determined to be accepted as such.

In Hollywood he was a teenage charmer, chaperoned by his beloved grandmother and by his admirers who protected him as best they could from the dangers of being a child in a careless adult’s world. On set, he was blusteringly confident although it was obvious he would have benefitted from training as an actor. Yet, as Todd, the disturbed teenager in Apt Pupil, he tapped into an inner demonic world and carried the film on his young shoulders.

[From mckellen.com]

There’s a little bit of internet gossip claiming that the coroner’s report is going to say that Brad died as a result of complications from the giant “F*** y’all” tattoo he got on his back 24 – 48 hours before his death. Though that seems highly unlikely, freak things do happen, and there an incredibly tiny possibility of infection and sepsis. I would think that a back tattoo would be hard to reach and thus tend to with ointments like you’re supposed to afterwards. If nothing else, Brad Renfro’s life is truly a cautionary tale about the dangers of fame and addiction. It seems so rare that you hear a story about a child actor whose life isn’t in some way negatively affected by their early success. It’s hard to know if it’s the fame itself, or the lack of a traditional childhood. Some have claimed it’s due in part to the unusual role reversal where they become the breadwinner for the rest of their family. Hopefully Brad has some sort of peace now.

Evel Knievel’s family is going all-out for his funeral, or, as his son Kelly Knievel said, “We’re throwing a funeral.” And you know what, I’m all right with that. Evel lived an outlandish, daredevil lifestyle. According to his family, he was very specific about his funeral requests, and if that’s what he wanted, why not? Knievel’s send-off will include a fireworks show Sunday night in Butte, Montana , followed by a public viewing the next morning. His funeral will be held Monday at the Butte Civic Center and will be officiated by televangelist Robert H. Schuller. Seem an odd choice? Well despite his hard living ways, Knievel converted to Christianity this past spring. The story is rather interesting.

On April 1, 2007, Knievel announced to a worldwide audience that he “believed in Jesus Christ” for the first time. He professed his personal faith in Christ to more than 4,000 people who gathered inside the Crystal Cathedral for Palm Sunday services in Orange County, California, and to millions via an Hour of Power telecast of the service to over 100 countries.

Knievel told how he had refused for 68 years to convert to Christianity because he didn’t want to surrender his lifestyle of “the gold and the gambling and the booze and the women.” He explained his conversion experience by saying, “All of a sudden, I just believed in Jesus Christ. I did, I believed in him!”

Knievel recounted how he “rose up in bed and, I was by myself, and I said, ‘Devil, Devil, you bastard you, get away from me. I cast you out of my life….’ I just got on my knees and prayed that God would put his arms around me and never, ever, ever let me go.” At his request, he was baptized before the congregation and TV cameras by Dr. Robert H. Schuller, Founding Pastor of the Crystal Cathedral. Christianity Today reported that “…Knievel’s testimony triggered mass baptisms at the Crystal Cathedral.”

[From Wikipedia]

I can’t help but be a little wary of televangelists, but to each his own. The Butte Civic Center can hold about 10,000 and officials expect it to reach capacity. Afterwards, Knievel’s body will be driven along a 6-mile lip in Butte named Evel Knievel Way. He will then be buried privately. According to Marko Lucich, the Butte-Silver Bow Chamber of Commerce executive, Butte had an annual Evel Knievel festival, which Knievel had actively promoted. He told the Associated Press the funeral will draw “‘a little bit of everything. You’ll see people in suits. Others will be in motorcycle apparel. Whatever people choose will be appropriate.’” Seems like a joyful celebration of a life, and an appropriate send off.