United Kingdom, Aug. 25 -- Freddie Starr is said to have died penniless and estranged from his six children.

Once one of Britain's best-known comedians, the performer died in 2019 at the age of 76 from a heart attack, and at the time he was living alone in a one-bedroom flat on the Costa del Sol.

The Daily Mail has now reported he was so broke when he died there were plans to give the stand-up a pauper's burial in Spain before a stranger stepped in to pay for his repatriation and funeral.

Funeral director Michael Fogg, from Sheffield, said he eventually covered the costs to ensure Freddie's body could be returned to England.

Michael was quoted by the Mail saying: "Anyone who can make a funeral director laugh must be a bloody good come...