Oscar winner Glen Hansard, who found fame after starring in The Commitments and with his band The Frames, has been killed in a motorcycle crash in Co Dublin.
The 56-year-old died following a single-vehicle crash at the Strawberry Beds, Lucan, just before 4.30am.
According to a brief Garda statement, which did not name Glen Hansard, the incident took place on a stretch of Lower Road, between Tinkers Hill and Rugged Lane.
“The motorcyclist, a man in his 50s, was treated at the scene but was pronounced deceased a short time later,” the Garda said.
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“The scene has been preserved for examination by Garda forensic collision investigators. Local traffic diversions are currently in place.”
Glen Hansard’s agents ATC management issued a statement on Wednesday confirming his death.
“With broken hearts we announce the passing of Glen Hansard in the early hours of this morning.
“We are still dealing with the shock of it all, so we kindly ask that the privacy of Glen’s family, colleagues and friends is respected at this difficult time.”
[ Glen Hansard: A life and music career in picturesOpens in new window ]
The musician and actor, a married father of one, split his time between his home in Kildare and Helsinki, where his wife, poet Maire Saaritsa, is from. The couple have a son.
Glen Hansard played Outspan Foster in The Commitments, the 1991 Alan Parker film based on Roddy Doyle’s first novel, while pursuing a career in music, at first with The Frames, then as part of the duo Swell Season, and also as a solo artist.
He won an Oscar in 2008 for the song Falling Slowly, which he wrote with Markéta Irglová, his Swell Season partner. It featured in the movie Once.
Glen Hansard was from Ballymun, north Dublin, and began performing with The Frames in his teenage years in the 1980s.
“Well, I grew up in Ballymun,” he told The Irish Times in an interview earlier this year. “I don’t make a big song and dance about it, but I grew up witnessing hardship among friends, family.
“Ballymun gets a bad rap, but it was an incredible community. There was a great sense of meitheal. My mother didn’t have any money, but she had a great sense of community.”
Gardaí are appealing to anyone who witnessed the crash at Strawberry Beds to come forward.
Road users who may have camera footage and were travelling in the area at the time are asked to make this footage available to investigating gardaí.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Lucan Garda station at (01) 666 7300, the Garda Confidential Line at 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.
