Monty Python writer and actor Neil Innes has died aged 75, his agent has confirmed. The comedian and musician died of natural causes Sunday night, agent Nigel Morton said.

Innes was known for his work with the British comedy group Monty Python and The Bonzo Dog Band. A statement released on behalf of his family Monday said: "It is with deep sorrow and great sadness that we have to announce the death of Neil James Innes on December 29, 2019.

In this Oct. 2, 2011 file photo, Monty Python collaborator and Rutles singer Neil Innes attends the screening of George Harrison: Living In The Material World at the BFI in London. Ian West / AP

"We have lost a beautiful, kind, gentle soul whose music and songs touched the heart of everyone and whose intellect and search for truth inspired us all," the statement said. "He died of natural causes quickly without warning and, I think, without pain."

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Innes wrote songs for the popular film Monty Python And The Holy Grail, appeared in Monty Python's Life of Brian and toured the U.K. and Canada with the group.

He was also a member of the band The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, later renamed the Bonzo Dog Band, whose song I'm The Urban Spaceman won him an Ivor Novello award.

Colleagues have been paying tributes to Innes on Twitter, including the prominent British actor Mark Gatiss, who fondly wrote "Sweet dreams, sweet idiot."

Neil Innes has gone. As a Python-obsessed teen I saw him at Darlington Arts Centre & missed my bus home to catch his brilliance. I used to record ‘The Innes Book of Records’ on C-60s & marvel at his talent. I still hum ‘I like Cezanne, says Anne’. Sweet dreams, sweet idiot. — Mark Gatiss (@Markgatiss) December 30, 2019

So sad to hear of the death of @NeilInnes – the Bonzos were everything to me when I was a teenager. I bought the LP of Tadpoles first: "Tackle the toons you tapped your tootsies to on Thames TV's Do Not Adjust Your Set". A great songwriter, great voice, great man. — Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) December 30, 2019