Los Angeles, Sep 4 (DPA) Pop superstar Michael Jackson was to be buried 10 weeks after his drug-induced death in a private ceremony for family and friends at a cemetery for the stars in suburban Los Angeles.

The intimate ceremony had been scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Thursday (0002 GMT Friday) in the mausoleum of the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, but the Jackson family only left their compound in a fleet of Rolls Royce limousines half an hour after the scheduled start.

However, stars such as Elizabeth Taylor, Macauley Culkin and Chris Tucker were seen arriving at the ceremony as was the political activist the Reverend Al Sharpton.

Jackson, who would have turned 51 Saturday, was to be buried in an ornate building featuring copies of the Michelangelo statues of David and Moses and a stained glass rendition of Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper.

It is also the final resting place of other show business legends like Walt Disney, Humphrey Bogart, Jean Harlow, Errol Flynn, Carole Lombard and Clark Gable.

Jackson was expected to be buried in the gold coffin used at his public funeral, but in stark contrast to that massive event, attendance at Thursday's ceremony was limited to close friends and family with no media allowed.