Richard Belzer dies as Law & Order actor's friend tells of his x-rated ...

The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star passed on on Sunday at his home in Bozouls in southwest France

Comedian and actor Richard Belzer has died aged 78.

The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star passed on on Sunday at his home in Bozouls in southwest France.

Writer Bill Scheft, who is a longtime friend of the actor, confirmed the news and discussed his last words.

"He had lots of health issues, and his last words were, ‘F**k you, motherfucker,'” Scheft revealed to The Hollywood Reporter.

His cause of death has not been specified.

Richard started his career as a comedian and slowly moved to the iconic role of police detective John Munch in Homicide: Life on the Street.

"I'm so sad to hear of Richard Belzer's passing," tweeted original Saturday Night Live cast member Laraine Newman.

"I loved this guy so much. He was one of my first friends when I got to New York to do SNL. We used to go out to dinner every week at Sheepshead Bay for lobster.

"One of the funniest people ever. A master at crowd work. RIP dearest.”

Richard made his movie debut in The Groove Tube in 1974.

In the early seasons of SNL, he was the audience warm-up comedian.

He went on to take on the iconic role as the detective in Homicide in 1993 and Law & Order: SVU.

The executive producer for Homicide, Barry Levinson, previously opened up about how he came about finding the actor for the role.

"We were looking at some other actors, and when I heard him [on the Howard Stern show], I said, ‘Why don’t we find out about Richard Belzer?'"

He added: "I like the rhythm of the way he talks. And that’s how that happened."

Richard also had small roles in films like Fame, Café Flesh, Night Shift and Scarface.

He also appeared in the music videos for the Mike + The Mechanics song Taken In and for the Pat Benatar song Le Bel Age.

The star was a regular on TV series The Flash as a news anchor and reporter. In several episodes of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, he played Inspector William Henderson.

Richard's first two marriages were to Gail Susan Ross (1966 to 1972) and boutique manager Dalia Danoch (1976 to 1978).

In 1981, he met Harlee McBride at the suggestion of a friend. They fell head over heels for each other and ended up tying the knot in 1985.

In 1983, he survived testicular cancer. He was also known to be a big conspiracy theorist.

There was a brief moment in television when he hosted Hot Properties, where his guests included Hulk Hogan and Mr. T - who were there to promote WrestleMania.

The episode saw Hulk put Richard in a front chinlock, knocking him unconscious and then releasing him to the floor. The action caused the comedian to bang his head and he was briefly hospitalised.

"He came very close to killing me," Richard told Roy Firestone in 1990. "I was told by a sports medicine expert that if I had fallen a few inches either way I could have been crippled for life, I could have been dead."

He later sued Hulk, Mr. T, Vince McMahon as well as the World Wrestling Federation for $5 million and acquired a reported $400,0000 in a 1990 settlement.

* Follow Mirror Celebs on Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.