A former stuntman who once doubled for Mel Gibson in futuristic blockbuster Mad Max 2 has died after collapsing at his home in New South Wales.

Max Aspin, who was in his late 60s, passed away at Gosford Hospital following the incident at his property on Australia's Central Coast last week.

Aspin enjoyed an extensive career in film throughout the nineteen-seventies and eighties, serving as a stunt coordinator on films including Crocodile Dundee, Heatwave and Australian TV show Fields of Fire.

Scroll down for video

Passed away: Max Aspin, a former stuntman who once doubled for Mel Gibson in futuristic blockbuster Mad Max 2 has died after collapsing at his home in New South Wales. Here he is featuring in a daring stunt from the 1981 movie

But it was his daredevil driving as Gibson's stunt double in George Miller's post-apocalyptic sequel Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior that earned him a reputation as one of Australia's most audacious stuntmen.

'Max was a fearless and crazy person,' a friend told Fairfax Media. 'His sense of humour was boundless and wicked.

'He was such a character, he was such an iconic part of Mad Max. He was carted out of so many wrecks.'

Daredevil: One of his memorable scenes from the film came as the result of a daring high-speed jump (pictured) that saw Aspin taken to hospital with a broken ankle

One such wreck came as the result of a daring high-speed jump - one of the 1981 film's more thrilling stunt sequences - that saw Aspin taken to hospital with a broken ankle.

The scene - a chase between Gibson's Max Rockatansky and a gang of attacking marauders - required the stuntman to drive his modified Valiant Regal over pile of wrecked vehicles and across a moat, after which he was expected to land safely.

But the Valiant clipped the top vehicle, resulting in Aspin coming to ground on the other side of the moat with greater force than expected.

Hospitalised: The stuntman's modified Valiant Regal clipped the top vehicle came to ground on the other side of the moat with greater force than expected (pictured following the landing)

Following his work on Mad Max he was offered the chance to work on a James Bond film, but turned it down following a meeting with former 007 Sean Connery and Hollywood director George Lucas, who were reportedly looking to secure the rights to the British franchise.

'So I rang them up and said what’s happening and they said they were still having legal problems with (former James Bond star) Roger Moore,' he told the Barrier Daily Truth in 2014.

'I said, "Well look, this is my bread and butter, if it isn’t going to happen in a couple of weeks, I won’t be able to do it because I’ve got to sign other contracts".

Iconic: Mel Gibson in George Miller's Mad Max: The Road Warrior, the second of four films in the hugely popular franchise

'So I tell people that I actually turned down a Bond film - and they go "Awwww yeah, sure".

'I could have seen myself in the Bahamas with all the Bond girls under my arm, but that’s OK, I have never looked back since.'

Aspin's passing came shortly before Mad Max: Fury Road - the fourth instalment in Miller's franchise - picked up six Oscars at the 88th annual Academy Awards on Sunday evening.

The thriller, which sees British actor Tom Hardy take the reins as anti-hero Max, picked up awards for Best Costume Design, Production Design, Make-up and Hairstyling, Film Editing, Sound Mixing and Editing.

Aspin leaves behind wife Dale - a stunt double whose credits also include Mad Max 2 and its 1985 follow-up, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome - and daughter Felicity.

His funeral will take place at Palmdale Cemetary in New South Wales on Wednesday.