{"id":573770,"date":"2026-07-29T12:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T12:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/573770\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T12:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T12:30:09","slug":"oscar-winning-musician-and-actor-glen-hansard-dies-in-dublin-motorbike-crash-the-irish-times-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/573770\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar-winning musician and actor Glen Hansard dies in Dublin motorbike crash \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oscar winner Glen Hansard<\/a>, who found fame after starring in The Commitments and with his band The Frames, has been killed in a motorcycle crash in Co Dublin.<\/p>\n

The 56-year-old died following a single-vehicle crash<\/a> at the Strawberry Beds, Lucan, just before 4.30am.<\/p>\n

According to a brief Garda<\/a> statement, which did not name Glen Hansard, the incident took place on a stretch of Lower Road, between Tinkers Hill and Rugged Lane. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe motorcyclist, a man in his 50s, was treated at the scene but was pronounced deceased a short time later,\u201d the Garda said.<\/p>\n

\"GardaíGarda\u00ed at the scene of the crash at Lower Road, Strawberry Beds, Lucan, Co Dublin. Photograph: Colin Keegan\/Collins Photos <\/p>\n

\u201cThe scene has been preserved for examination by Garda forensic collision investigators. Local traffic diversions are currently in place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glen Hansard\u2019s management issued a statement on Wednesday confirming his death.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith broken hearts we announce the passing of Glen Hansard in the early hours of this morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are still dealing with the shock of it all, so we kindly ask that the privacy of Glen\u2019s family, colleagues and friends is respected at this difficult time.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Glen Hansard: A life and music career in picturesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Glen Hansard played Outspan Foster in The Commitments, the 1991 Alan Parker film based on Roddy Doyle\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

He won an Oscar in 2008 for the song Falling Slowly, which he wrote with Mark\u00e9ta Irglov\u00e1, his Swell Season partner. It featured in the movie Once.<\/p>\n

\"MarkétaMark\u00e9ta Irglov\u00e1 and Glen Hansard of Swell Season perform during the 2025 Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. Photograph: Douglas Mason\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Glen Hansard was from Ballymun, north Dublin, and began performing with The Frames in his teenage years in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I grew up in Ballymun,\u201d he told The Irish Times in an interview earlier this year<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t make a big song and dance about it, but I grew up witnessing hardship among friends, family.<\/p>\n

\u201cBallymun gets a bad rap, but it was an incredible community. There was a great sense of meitheal. My mother didn\u2019t have any money, but she had a great sense of community.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Glen Hansard: \u2018Funny as it sounds with all the success, the money is not something that you just have\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed are appealing to anyone who witnessed the crash at Strawberry Beds to come forward.<\/p>\n

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 garda\u00ed.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oscar winner Glen Hansard, who found fame after starring in The Commitments and with his band The Frames,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[45,615,109247,42,21104,43,11318,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-573770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-an-garda-siochana","tag-dublin","tag-glen-hansard","tag-headlines","tag-lucan","tag-news","tag-road-safety","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}