The actor, who was married with three children, was left seriously ill after a quad bike accident in 1998 which left him in a coma for several days.
His big break came at The Comic Strip Club, performing with comedy partner Adrian Edmondson as 20th Century Coyote in the 1980s, which led to cult television hit The Comic Strip Presents.
He co-wrote The Young Ones with Lise Mayer and Ben Elton, which ran for 12 episodes between 1982 and 1985. It shared cult status and schoolboy humour with later sitcom Bottom.
Mayall and Edmondson's slapstick comedy often involved fires, explosions, and hefty blows to the head with a frying pan.
The pair met at Manchester University before forming the on-stage comedy duo The Dangerous Brothers.
It was there Mayall had befriended Elton, who said of his friend: "He changed my life utterly," adding: "He always made me cry with laughter, now he's just made me cry."
Anarchic characters
Mayall's film roles included the comedies Drop Dead Fred and Guest House Paradiso.
He also famously played the loud-mouthed and lecherous Lord Flashheart in BBC comedy series Blackadder, starring Rowan Atkinson.
The actor appeared in the second and fourth series, shouting catchphrases such as "woof!" and "let's do-oo-oo it!".
But his early, anarchic characters gave way to the smooth, scheming Conservative politician Alan B'Stard in The New Statesman, which ran on ITV from 1986 to 1992.
The sitcom Bottom was one of the fruits of Mayall and Edmondson's long comedy partnership
Blackadder producer and writer John Lloyd paid tribute, telling the BBC: "It's really a dreadful piece of news."
"He was the most extraordinarily good actor as well as being an amazing stand-up comic. Apart from being great company, he was a great professional," said Lloyd.
Stephen Fry, who appeared with Mayall in Blackadder, described his co-star as "an authentic comedy genius and a prince among men," adding he was "simply distraught" at the news.
Writer Laurence Marks, who created The New Statesman, describe
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