Eddie Redmayne has paid tribute to Stephen Hawking, who has died aged 76.

"We have lost a truly beautiful mind, an astonishing scientist and the funniest man I have ever had the pleasure to meet," the actor said. "My love and thoughts are with his extraordinary family."

Redmayne depicted the famed scientist in James Marsh's 2015 film The Theory of Everything, winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for the role.

Though he spent six months poring over every piece of interview footage he could find, Redmayne only met Hawking five days before filming was set to commence. A meeting that so racked him with nerves, that he confessed he started reeling off facts about Hawking's own life, even pointing out they were both Capricorns. Hawking responded simply: "I’m an astronomer, not an astrologer.’

Marsh, however, added that Hawking so impressed by the film and Redmayne's performance that he not only gave his blessing, but offered to lend his own voice. "The voice you hear in the latter part of the story is, in fact, Stephen's actual electronic voice as he uses it", he told Deadline.

Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Show all 23 1 /23 Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Hawking at his Oxford graduation SWNS Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures The physicist at Cambridge University in 1988 Getty Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Hawking navigates the narrow streets between his residence and university Alamy Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Hawking as a young man Alamy Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Stephen Hawking and Nobel Prize winner Dorothy Hodgkin with their portraits unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in London, 1992 PA Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Stephen Hawking and his new bride Elaine Mason pose for pictures after the blessing of their wedding in 1995 Reuters Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Hawking arriving at the Chilean Antarctic base in 1997 Alamy Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Bill Gates, accompanied by vice-chancellor Alec Broers, meets Hawking on a visit to Cambridge University in 1997 Reuters Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Stephen Hawking celebrates his 60th birthday in 2002 at Cambridge University Brian Harris Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Hawking holds a lecture for a symposium of cosmologists at Stockholm University in 2003 AP Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures The physicist floats in a weightless environment during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 in 2007 EPA Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Stephen Hawking addresses a public meeting in Cape Town, 2008. Hawking was in South Africa for a short visit, accompanied by Nobel laureates David Gross and George Smoot Reuters Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Nelson Mandela Hawking in Johannesburg, 2008 AFP/Getty Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Barack Obama presents the Medal of Freedom to Hawking during a ceremony at the White House, 2009 Getty Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures The physicist enjoys the sun at the Stephen Hawking Garden for Motor Neurone Disease at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2010 Susannah Ireland Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Hawking speaks via satellite during the Science Channel portion of the 2010 Television Critics Association Press Tour Getty Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Hawking speaks during a press conference in London, 2014. Intel demonstrated with the professor a new communications platform to replace his decades-old system EPA Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Actors Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne pose with Hawking at the UK premiere of the ‘The Theory of Everything’ in 2014 AFP/Getty Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Hawking and Felicity Jones present the award for Special Visual Effects at the Baftas in 2015 Rex Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Hawking takes part in a ‘Little Britain’ sketch for Red Nose Day 2015, with Catherine Tate and David Walliams Rex Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Pope Francis meets with Hawking at the Vatican in 2016 AFP/Getty Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Hawking receives his Freedom of the City of London scroll in 2017 AP Stephen Hawking: a life in pictures Participants listen to a recorded speech by Hawking on artificial intelligence at the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing, 2017 AFP/Getty

Hawking's family released a statement in the early hours of Wednesday morning confirming he'd passed away in his home in Cambridge, including words from his children - Lucy, Robert, and Tim - which read: "He once said: ‘It would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love.’ We will miss him forever."