'Hannibal' star Gaspard Ulliel dies at 37 after ski accident

French star Gaspard Ulliel, who played a young Hannibal Lecter and had a top role in a new Marvel TV series, died on Wednesday at 37 following a skiing accident, his family said.

Ulliel was already in the top rank of French actors, and gained international attention for his performance as the famous cannibal in "Hannibal Rising" in 2007.

He also had a leading role as Midnight Man in the new Marvel TV series "Moon Knight" starring Oscar Isaac, which launches on Disney+ in March.

His family confirmed the death -- which followed a skiing accident in southeast France on Tuesday -- in a statement given to AFP by his agent.

A spokesperson from the ski station said another skier crashed into Ulliel at the meeting of two slopes.

He was airlifted to a hospital in Grenoble where he died on Wednesday, the agent said.

Ulliel won a Cesar, the French equivalent of an Oscar, for best actor in 2017 for "It's Only the End of the World" in which he starred alongside Marion Cotillard and Lea Seydoux.

He had already taken home a Cesar in 2005 for most promising actor after appearing in the World War I drama "A Very Long Engagement" alongside Audrey Tautou.

He starred in "Saint Laurent", one of two biopics about the legendary designer to be released in 2014, though he lost out at the Cesars to the star of the rival film, Pierre Niney.

Niney was one of the first to react on Twitter, saying: "Broken heart. Gaspard was benevolence and kindness. Beauty and talent."

Ulliel was born just outside Paris on November 25, 1984 and picked up a small scar from a dog bite as a child.

He said it helped him because it looked like a dimple.

He was just 11 when he started working on screen and picked up two Cesar newcomer nominations in 2003 and 2004 before finally winning the following year.

There were also some major modeling gigs, including a contract as the face of a Chanel aftershave.

One of his directors described him as something of an enigma.

"He's a strange boy, difficult to penetrate," said Rodolphe Marconi, who directed him in one of his early films, "The Last Day".

© 2022 AFP