The French actor Gaspard Ulliel has died at the age of 37 after a skiing accident, reports The Guardian.
The star of A Very Long Engagement and Hannibal Rising was hospitalised after the accident in the Alps. Ulliel was transported via helicopter on Tuesday to Grenoble but did not survive his injuries, according to the actor’s family and agent.
Local broadcaster France Bleu reported that Ulliel collided with another skier at a crossing point, suffering head trauma. It said the other skier was not hospitalized. An investigation is currently under way.
After some television work, Ulliel had a small role in 2001’s Brotherhood of the Wolf, alongside Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci. Acclaimed work in French films Summer Things and Strayed then led to the romantic lead in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s A Very Long Engagement, opposite Audrey Tautou. The performance saw him win a César for most promising actor.
Ulliel was then cast as young Hannibal Lecter in prequel Hannibal Rising, and as Yves Saint Laurent in biopic Laurent which scored him a Cesar nomination for best actor. He later won the award for Xavier Dolan’s It’s Only the End of the World, which premiered at the Cannes film festival.
“Gaspard belonged to this new generation of actors who were making tomorrow’s French cinema,” festival director Thierry Fremaux said to Variety.