One of Corey Haim's pallbearers takes a moment before the late actor's funeral service in Toronto on Tuesday.
Hundreds of family and close friends managed to laugh in spite of their tears today as they bid farewell to former teen star Corey Haim, who died at age 38 in Los Angeles last Wednesday.
A private funeral service was held this morning at the Steeles Memorial Chapel, a Jewish funeral home in Toronto's north end. Though the service was closed to the public, news cameras lined the chain-link fence separating the single-storey chapel from a neighbouring Tim Horton's.
At about 11:45 a.m., a police escort led a procession of more than three dozen cars westward along Steeles Avenue to the cemetery.
"It was very touching. There was some laughter, a lot of crying," said Maytal Kotler, a cousin who is close with Mr. Haim's father, and who attended the service.
Kotler said both of Haim's parents, Bernie and Judy, were among the mourners who filled the chapel. She described the service as striking "a nice balance" between being sombre and uplifting. Three or four family members eulogized Haim, including his childhood best friend, but Ms. Kotler said she did not notice any other actors on hand.
Outside the chapel, about two dozen fans gathered on a day of blue sky and warm sun to pay their respects.
"It's like a part of your childhood dies - you can't help but be sad," said Dan Pigeau, 31, who had travelled from Oshawa with two friends to catch a glimpse of the departing mourners.
Haim is best known for his role in The Lost Boys, a 1987 film by Joel Schumacher that also helped launch the careers of Jason Patric and Kiefer Sutherland. Haim made his film debut in 1984 in Firstborn, and went on to play roles in Murphy's Romance, Silver Bullet, Lucas and License to Drive.
In recent years he added to his resume with titles such as New Terminal Hotel and American Sunset, but in adult life he made headlines as often for his public struggles with drug addiction and his A&E reality television series The Two Coreys.
He died at his mother's home in Burbank, Calif. The coroner's office has yet to publicly release the cause of death, though his mother was reportedly told he had an enlarged heart and pulmonary congestion.
Kotler said she knew Haim's father better than the actor himself, but will take away an impression of "a funny guy" who "liked to play jokes."
"He was a good soul and [a]very fun-loving guy, big heart, a good person overall. And he's always going to be remembered for that," she said.