Robin William has been recognised as the greatest comedy actor of all time in a Ranker poll and it's hard to argue he doesn't deserve it.

During his career he played a number of hilarious roles including the lead in Mrs. Doubtfire, and other childrens' classics such as Flubber, Jumanji and Hook.

The actor died tragically at the age of 63, after he committed suicide at his home in California, following a struggle with severe depression and Lewy body dementia.

One of his greatest acting performances came in the 1993 film Mrs. Doubtfire.

Speaking in an interview with Whoopi Goldberg on SiriusXM before his death, he said that while building up all the elements of the character, he went through a few voices before landing on the softly spoken Scottish tone which allowed the housekeeper and nanny to say mean things, but still sound harmless.

He then goes on to say that once, while dressed as Mrs D in San Francisco, he popped into a sex shop and asked for some pretty specific items.

He said: "I walked into the shop and asked for a double headed dildo. I was going 'that one right there, the big one; do you have anything without veins?'

"I could see this guy behind the counter going 'woah, this lady', [and I said] 'lube, I need a scented lube, a scented lube would be nice too'.

"Finally the guy realised it was me and said 'get out of here Robin you asshole!'. But I got the lube, which was lovely."

But he wasn't just a comedy actor. In fact, often considered his finest hour, is a scene in Good Will Hunting where he and Matt Damon sit on a park bench. Robin gives a monologue, addressing previous comments Matt Damon's character had made to him.

It's not even worth trying to explain, dissect, and describe it. It's so encapsulating, that you may as well just watch it.

"But you presume to know everything about me because you saw a painting of mine and you ripped my fucking life apart.

"You're an orphan right? Do you think I'd know the first thing about how hard your life has been, how you feel, who you are because I read Oliver Twist?

"Does that encapsulate you? Personally, I don't give a shit about all that, because you know what? I can't learn anything from you I can't read in some fucking book. Unless you wanna talk about you, who you are.

"And I'm fascinated; I'm in. But you don't wanna do that, do you, sport? You're terrified of what you might say.

"Your move, chief."

What a fantastic actor.

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