The world mourns the loss of funnyman Robin Williams

There is only sadness tonight regarding the person so many thought was the funniest man alive.

Robin Williams was found unresponsive at his home in Tiburon, just outside San Francisco. He appeared to have committed suicide. According to his publicist, Williams was suffering from severe depression.

His wife Susan Schneider said in a statement: "This morning I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings… It is our hope the focus will not be on Robin's death, but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions."

His daughter Zelda tweeting, “I love you. I miss you. I'll try to keep looking up.”

The actor's last post on Instagram was to wish her a happy birthday.

“Quarter of a century old, but always my baby girl,” he said.

Williams started out as an actor in Mork and Mindy, playing the sweet and zany alien baffled by the ways of us on Earth.

US President Barack Obama, obviously a fan of the show, said "he arrived in our lives as an alien but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit."

At his star on Hollywood Boulevard, the fans and the flowers arrived. Though all the while he made so many of us smile, he often spoke too about the "other" Robin Williams who battled depression, and an addiction to drugs and alcohol.

Over the years he's been in and out of rehab. As recently as last month he returned for more treatment, in typical Robin Williams style describing it as “going in for a bit a tune up”. He said needed the drinks and drugs because of his unrelenting "fear and anxiety."

Williams married three times and leaves three children: Zac, Zelda and Cody. There were stories of marriage infidelity and nasty break-ups, expensive divorce cases and hints that in recent times he was in financial difficulty. His issues were made worse when he needed a heart operation in 2009.

After such huge success on the big screen, including his Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for Good Will Hunting, it was somewhat of a surprise that last year Williams agreed to take the lead role in a TV series called The Crazy Ones where he played the role of an eccentric ad executive.

His star power drew huge audiences to the show to begin with, but they dropped off and it wasn't renewed for a second season.

For Williams, it was more disappointment. More, he said, because of the many young and up-and-coming actors who lost their jobs.

Most recently he starred in the movie The Angriest Man in Brooklyn. It was a not-that-well reviewed story about a man who discovers he has only 90 minutes to live.

It won't be the angry man we'll remember. It will be the roles that only Robin Williams could get away with. He lived and worked by his word telling people, “You are only given a little spark of madness, you musn't lose it.”