Actor. He received fame as an award-winning English comedic actor who started performing early, appearing in productions staged by his drama teacher's parents. Born Richard Michael Mayall, he attended the University of Manchester, where he met his future comedic partner, Adrian Edmondson. He performed as a stand-up comic, honing such characters as the pompous anarchist poet, who would later be translated into the character Rik in the cult television series, "The Young Ones," which ran from 1982 to 1984. In 1985, he appeared in the popular 1983 comedy series "Blackadder" as Mad Gerald. He returned to play the larger-than-life Lord Flashheart in "Blackadder II" in 1986, and Squadron Commander Flashheart in "Blackadder Goes Forth" in 1989. He starred in "The New Statesman" from 1987 to 1992; his role as Alan B'Stard earned him a BAFTA. In 1991, he starred in the feature film, "Drop Dead Fred." He then returned to British TV with "Bottom," which ran from 1991 to 1995. He was known to protest politically. In April of 1998, he was seriously injured after crashing a quad runner and was in a coma for several days with a fractured skull. Upon recovery, he appeared in the television series "Jonathan Creek" later that year. In 2000, he took a voice acting job for the PlayStation and Windows PC video game "Hogs of War." He was initially cast as the poltergeist Peeves in the 2001 "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," but the character was ultimately cut from the film. In the 2005 poll, The Comedians' Comedian was voted among the top 50 comedy performers of all time. He reprised the role of Alan B'Stard in 2006 in the play "The New Statesman 2006: Blair B'stard Project." In 2008, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Exeter. Over the next few years, he did a great deal of voice work as well as two television series: "Damo and Ivor" and "Man Down" in 2013. He placed 91st in a "Top 100 Stand-Up Comedians" poll. He died of a sudden heart attack.