Ridiculous Celebrity Will Requests

Celebrities do not always play it safe when they plan their estates. Many used their wills to make very specific or very quirky requests, from daily flowers for a spouse to pet care routines that read like a luxury hotel checklist. The stories below show how final wishes can be as memorable as a greatest hit or a signature performance.

Each entry spells out the request in plain terms and adds concrete details about how executors and families carried it out. You will find amounts, dates, locations, and follow through where it matters, all focused on facts that help you understand what happened after the ink dried.

Leona Helmsley

In 2007 hotel magnate Leona Helmsley set aside 12 million dollars in a trust for her Maltese named Trouble. After a court challenge the amount was reduced to 2 million dollars and the dog lived under security because of threats, with documented annual costs that covered a caretaker, grooming, and veterinary care.

Her will also disinherited two grandchildren while directing billions to the Helmsley Charitable Trust. Executors managed the pet trust until Trouble died in 2011 and then distributed the remainder according to the terms of the instrument.

Dusty Springfield

Singer Dusty Springfield left a detailed care plan for her cat Nicholas in 1999. The instructions covered diet that included baby food and fresh fish, a sleeping pillow lined with her nightgown, and a comfortable home with space to climb and play.

She named a trusted friend as caretaker and funded the cat’s upkeep through her estate. The plan ensured veterinary care and everyday routines that matched the life the pet had known while she was alive.

Jack Benny

Comedian Jack Benny created a legacy that sent a single long stemmed red rose to his widow Mary Livingstone every day after his death in 1974. The deliveries began at once and continued for years, funded by a provision in his estate.

The florist received standing instructions and payments from the trust so the routine never lapsed. It was a mechanical arrangement written into the estate plan rather than a sentimental request left to chance.

Janis Joplin

Two days before she died in 1970 Janis Joplin signed a will that set aside 2500 dollars for a party for her friends. The wake took place later that month with an open bar and music, exactly as her bequest intended.

The amount covered venue costs and hospitality so guests could gather and remember her. The rest of her estate went to family members under the document filed after her death.

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare’s 1616 will contains a now famous line that left his second best bed to his wife Anne Hathaway. The bequest appears in the final section of the document along with other household items.

The rest of the will is a thorough distribution to his daughters Susanna and Judith and to grandchildren and friends. The second best bed entry is precise language in a legal instrument that survives in the original registry.

George Bernard Shaw

Playwright George Bernard Shaw directed that part of his estate support the creation of a new phonetic alphabet and spelling reform. The bequest led to development work that produced the Shaw alphabet and a printed edition of a play in that script.

Litigation and probate reduced the funds available, yet the executors still sponsored research and a published example. The project showed how a will can fund a specific intellectual aim many years after death.

Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter S. Thompson’s instructions called for his ashes to be fired from a cannon at his home in Woody Creek Colorado. In August 2005 a tower with his gonzo fist emblem launched the ashes in a public memorial that matched his written wishes.

Production costs and permits were handled by his family and friends with support from Johnny Depp. The event included readings and music and concluded with the ash launch over his property.

Gene Roddenberry

Gene Roddenberry arranged for a portion of his cremated remains to be carried into space. A symbolic sample flew with a memorial payload soon after his death and later flights repeated the tribute on suborbital and orbital missions.

Only a small fraction of ashes are used for space memorials and the rest remain with the family or are interred elsewhere. His executors coordinated the flights with licensed memorial flight providers.

David Bowie

David Bowie’s will filed in New York in 2016 directed that his ashes be scattered in Bali according to local Buddhist customs. The document authorized executors to perform the rite in a different location if travel or logistics made that necessary while following the same ritual guidelines.

The will also placed most of his assets in trusts for his wife and children and named specific cash beneficiaries for longtime staff. Executors followed the scattering instruction in private in line with the document.

Fred Baur

Pringles can inventor Fred Baur asked that some of his ashes be buried in a Pringles can. His children honored the request using a can of the original flavor and placed the rest of his remains in a traditional urn.

The burial took place in Cincinnati where Baur had lived and worked for decades. The will left no ambiguity about the container so the funeral director could carry it out without delay.

Harry Houdini

Harry Houdini left written instructions asking his wife Bess to attempt an annual séance on the anniversary of his death for ten years. He supplied a secret code only she knew to verify any message that might appear during the sittings.

Bess held séances each year and invited witnesses and reporters for the final one in 1936. After ten attempts she announced that no authentic communication had been received and closed the effort as he had requested.

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens requested a simple private funeral and a modest burial without public honors. He expressed a wish to be interred near his home in Kent and not in a grand public setting.

After he died in 1870 officials arranged burial in Westminster Abbey. The Abbey conducted a quiet morning ceremony to keep the event restrained while still placing him in Poets Corner.

Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl asked to be buried with items that captured his daily pleasures and habits. His family placed a power saw a set of his favorite pencils a bottle of Burgundy and chocolates in his grave.

He was laid to rest at the church in Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire. The site now includes a bench and a trail for children who visit the author’s resting place.

Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra’s burial included a bottle of Jack Daniel’s a pack of cigarettes a lighter and a dime for phone calls. These items were placed with him in accordance with his instructions to family and executors.

He is interred at Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City California. His headstone reads The Best Is Yet to Come which matches the way the family chose to mark the grave.

Karl Lagerfeld

Karl Lagerfeld publicly stated that his cat Choupette would be looked after for life and his estate plan set aside funds for her care. Because pets cannot inherit directly in France the arrangement used caretakers and legal entities to hold and spend the money for her benefit.

After his death in 2019 Choupette remained with her caretaker with living expenses and medical care provided. The setup followed the designer’s instructions and kept the cat out of financial risk.

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s 2004 will asked that his son be raised in Manhattan or Chicago or San Francisco so he would grow up around art and public life. He named his partner as beneficiary and guardian to carry out those wishes.

He also expressed a preference that his children not receive money in a traditional trust structure. The design of the estate placed assets with their mother so support and education could be provided without creating a stand alone inheritance for minors.

Share your favorite wild will story in the comments and tell us which one surprised you most.