Eddie Murphy paid for funerals of celebrity friends who died broke in Hollywood

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Eddie Murphy is pulling back the curtain on the darker side of Hollywood. 

In Netflix's documentary, "Being Eddie," the actor and comedian, 64, opened up about his decision to financially cover the funeral costs and one tombstone for celebrity friends including musician Rick James, comedian Redd Foxx, and William Thomas Jr., who famously played Buckwheat in "The Little Rascals" film series. 

"When Redd kicked out, I had to bury Redd. I had to bury Redd. I had to bury Rick. I bought Buckwheat a tombstone. Buckwheat didn’t have no tombstone," Murphy said in the film. "I’m always burying these people."

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Eddie Murphy has covered the funeral costs for several celebrity friends, including Rick James. (Getty Images)

"It tripped me out, these people you… show business and all that, and then when they pass away, there’s not even the money to bury these people?" he added. "Where are their families? Where are these people? It’s a lot of people like that."

Redd Foxx, best known for his role as Fred Sanford in "Sanford and Son" in the 1970s, died of a heart attack on Oct. 11, 1991. He was 68. 

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William Thomas Jr. (left) died in 1980. Redd Foxx (right), best known for his role as Fred Sanford in "Sanford and Son" in the 1970s, died from a heart attack on Oct. 11, 1991. He was 68.  (Getty Images)

"Redd was just funny effortlessly. I love Redd," Murphy, who starred alongside Foxx in "Harlem Nights," said in the documentary. "To work with somebody you idolize… On the outside, I’m unflappable. On the inside, I was like… ‘Ahh!’ When we were doing ‘Harlem Nights,’ I wanted to do a movie with some of my old heroes."

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James, who collaborated with Murphy on his 1985 single, "Party All the Time," died of heart failure in 2004. Thomas died of a heart attack in 1980. 

"I’ve paid for a lot of funerals, but I don’t go to funerals," Murphy recently told USA Today, Murphy said, The only funerals Murphy has been to are the ones for his biological father, Charles Edward Murphy, and his stepfather, Vernon Lynch. 

Eddie Murphy said he doesn't want his family and friends to have a funeral for him after he dies.  (Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Niche Imports)

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"When I kick out, I'm not having no funeral and be laying up there and people coming and looking at me, lowering me in the ground," he says. "I am to be cremated immediately. And there's no funeral, and there's no memorial or none of that s---. Just keep it rolling. None of that trauma. … It's way too f------ much, a funeral."

"I don't give a f--- what they do with [my ashes]," he continued. "Just as long as you don't have people standing around with my ashes. ... I'm not trying to be in the urn while everybody's crying. I don't want to have that moment."

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"Crying is allowed," he added. "I’m just talking about the whole ritual of a funeral is just too much for me."