The actor and mental health campaigner Lord Brian Rix has died aged 92, the charity Mencap has said.
He had been ill for some time.
Recently, he wrote to the Speaker of the House of Lords, Baroness D'Souza, appealing for a change in the law to legalise assisted dying.
He said such a change would allow him to "slip away peacefully".
Lord Rix was born in Cottingham, East Yorkshire, in 1924 and was the youngest of four children.
He became a professional actor at the age of 18 and appeared on the West End stage - notably in Whitehall farces - in films and in numerous productions for the BBC.
Brian Rix during rehearsals for the Whitehall farce One For The Pot in the early 1960s
His dedication to people with learning disabilities began after his eldest child, Shelley, was born with Down's Syndrome in December 1951.
He became chairman of Mencap in 1988 and its president in 1998, a post he held until his death.
He was made a life peer in 1992 and spoke regularly in the Lords, talking of his frustration at not being able to do more for his daughter, who died in 2005.
Mencap chair Derek Lewis said: "Through his tireless campaigning he brought about vastly improved life opportunities for those with learning disabilities compared with the situation when his daughter was born with Down's Syndrome.
"He will be greatly missed but his extraordinary achievements leave us all with the inspiration to continue his vital work."
Brian Rix and his wife Elspet Gray at a ball in London in 1962
Lord Rix had been an opponent of assisted dying, because of concerns that people with learning difficulties might have become the unwilling victims of euthanasia.
But he told the Press Association earlier this month that his own experience of terminal illness had changed his mind.
He said: "I have wrapped up my affairs and I am ready to go and I can't do anything but lie here thinking, 'Oh Christ, why am I still here?'
"They won't let me die and that's all I want to do.
"I have no fears of dying because it will put an end to this misery, this pain and discomfort.
"I am constantly woozy and hazy but I can't sleep.
"I think it's wrong that people like me are stranded like this. I'm not looking for something that helps me only, I'm thinking of all the other people who must be in the same dreadful position."
Lord Rix's wife, Elspet Gray, died in February 2013 aged 83.
He is survived by his sons Jamie and Jonathan, daughter Louisa and grandchildren.
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