😭 Glen Hansard, the musician who rose to fame thanks to the film 'Once', dies at 56 👀

Irish musician and actor Glen Hansard, winner of the 2008 Academy Award for Best Original Song, has died at the age of 56 in a motorcycle accident. According to Irish police (via The Guardian), the accident occurred in Lucan, near Dublin, leaving Hansard as the sole fatality.

A member of the band The Frames, with whom he released seven albums, Hansard rose to international fame with Once, a drama directed by John Carney, which he co-starred in with Marketá Iglová, with whom he had previously formed the acoustic duo The Swell Season. Thanks to this film, Hansard became the first Irish musician to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song, for his track "Falling Slowly."

Born in Dublin in 1970, Hansard left school in his teens to work as a street musician. In 1991, he had his first experience in film, acting under the direction of Alan Parker in The Commitments. That musical dramedy about Irish kids who form a soul band brought him a certain degree of fame, which, as he himself admitted, he didn't know how to capitalize on.

After a long career leading The Frames, the musician debuted as a solo artist and had an artistic and romantic relationship with Marketá Iglová. The breakup of the couple, whose journey came to an end in 2009, was painfully reflected in The Swell Season (2011), a documentary that chronicled their tour following the success of Once.

After a voice role in The Simpsons Movie (2009), Hansard barely acted again: his last role was a brief appearance as a singing soldier in Cyrano (2021). However, he maintained his connection to film, contributing songs to movies such as I'm Not There (the experimental Bob Dylan biopic directed by Todd Haynes in 2007) and Flag Day (2021), directed by Sean Penn. To which we must add his cameos in the series Parenthood and The Last Man on Earth.

And for you, is there a song you remember from him?

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