Robbie Rotten: LazyTown actor Stefan Karl Stefansson dies aged 43

Stefan Karl Stefansson, best known for playing Robbie Rotten in the popular children’s show LazyTown, has died of cancer at the age of 43.

In a statement posted to Facebook last night, his wife, Steinunn Olina Thorsteinsdottir, confirmed that her “beloved” husband had passed away.

“Per Stefan’s wishes, there will be no funeral,” she wrote, adding that his ashes “will be scattered in secrecy in a distant ocean”.

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In 2016, the Icelandic actor announced that he had bile duct cancer, a rare form of the disease, “prompting members of LazyTown’s production team to raise money to pay his living costs when he became too sick to work”, The Independent reports

However, despite treatment, in March this year Stefansson received the devastating news that his cancer had spread and was considered incurable.

“It’s not until they tell you you’re going to die soon that you realise how short life is,” he wrote in a social media post revealing the prognosis in April.

“Time is the most valuable thing in life because it never comes back. And whether you spend it in the arms of a loved one or alone in a prison-cell, life is what you make of it. Dream big.”

Stefansson started his career as a puppeteer on Icelandic TV before finding international fame in LazyTown, which mixed live-action, puppetry and music to promote healthy living.

Between 2004 and 2014, he was a familiar face to millions of children around the world as antagonist Robbie Rotten, who constantly threatened to lure townsfolk back to their idle ways.

To date, the programme has been dubbed into more than 30 languages and broadcast in 180 countries. In the UK, it has been shown on CBBC, Channel 5 and satellite channel Cartoonito.

In her statement, Stefansson’s wife extended the family’s “deepest sympathy” to his fans, whom she said had demonstrated their “support and warmth” during his illness. The couple have four children.