Hollywood stars and political powerbrokers past and present gathered for the funeral of the former first lady Nancy Reagan.

Hollywood stars and political powerbrokers past and present gathered on Friday to celebrate the life of the former first lady, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in hill country northwest of Los Angeles.

A-Team actor Mr T was at the ceremony to celebrate the life of Nancy Reagan.Source:AFP

The Reagans were former actors and many of the 1980s Hollywood glitterati, including 1980s sex symbol Bo Derek, Oscar winner Anjelica Huston, Magnum PI actor Tom Selleck, the A-Team’s Mr T and singer Johnny Mathis.

Mathis says he and the former first lady enjoyed singing together.

Mathis became friends with Mrs Reagan and often visited her home in the Bel Air area of Los Angeles, where she died on Sunday aged 94.

Nancy Reagan holding the Reagans' pet Rex, a King Charles spaniel, as she and President Reagan walk on the White House South lawn in 1981.Source:AP

Former Reagan administration official Ed Meese, US journalist Katie Couric, Larry King, Mike Love of the Beach Boys, television writer and producer Norman Lear and Steve Ford, son of President Gerald Ford were there.

Also present were presidential candidate and former first lady Hillary Clinton and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Actor Tom Selleck of Magnum PI fame was also in attendance.Source:Getty Images

President Obama is taking heat from some conservatives for skipping the funeral Friday, opting instead to speak at a tech festival in Austin, Texas.

But Obama is hardly the first president to miss a former first lady’s funeral. President Jimmy Carter did not attend Mamie Eisenhower’s funeral in 1979 but his wife, Rosalynn Carter, did. President Ronald Reagan did not attend Bess Truman’s funeral in 1982 but Nancy Reagan went.

Mrs Reagan’s children recounted memories of their mother’s life.

Arnold Schwarzenegger arrives at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.Source:Getty Images

Daughter Patti Davis described to mourners how Nancy was adamant about reuniting with her husband.

Davis described her parents as “two halves of a circle,” recalling a long-ago memory of seeing the two of them sitting on a Southern California beach at sunset in what she called an impenetrable “island for two.”

Nancy Reagan’s daughter, Patti Davis.Source:AFP

Nancy Reagan’s son, Ron Reagan.Source:AP

Son Ron Prescott Reagan told the guests there likely would not have been a President Ronald Reagan without Nancy Reagan, saying she had an absolute belief in him, as well as provided guidance and a refuge.

Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney read an adoring letter written by Ronald Reagan to his wife on their first Christmas in the White House in 1981.

The letter said she filled his entire life with “warmth and love.”

Former President George W. Bush, left, and Hillary Clinton were also in attendance.Source:AP

Veteran television journalists Diane Sawyer and Tom Brokaw also gave recollections of Mrs Reagan.

The service ended with recollections and prayers by the Rev. Stuart A. Kenworthy, vicar of Washington National Cathedral, and a bagpipe recessional as military service members carried the casket to the grave site.

Her children Patti Davis and Ron Reagan stood by as “God Bless America” was played.

The service took place inside a cavernous white tent, one side left open, facing the hills in the distance.

The casket carrying former First Lady Nancy Reagan leaves the funeral service at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.Source:AP

A blanket of grey clouds filled the sky, and a brief sprinkle tapped on the roof.

The former first lady will be buried next to Ronald Reagan, who died in 2004.

Her casket will be lowered into the tomb beside the former president on Friday night, the moment watched over by senior library staff.