“I will carry his spirit with me always,” the actor tells PEOPLE
Credit: Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic
NEED TO KNOW
- “Falling Slowly” singer/songwriter Glen Hansard died in a motorcycle crash in Dublin on WEdnesdy, July 29. He was 56
- In a tribute to the late star, Steve Kazee tells PEOPLE he credits Hansard’s artistry and generosity for shaping his career and calls him a mentor and friend
- The actor won a Tony Award for playing Hansard’s role in the Broadway musical adaptation of Once
Steve Kazee is remembering Glen Hansard, a man who forever shaped both his career and his life.
Hours after Hansard died in a motorcycle crash in Dublin on Wednesday, July 29, at age 56, the Broadway star — who won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Hansard’s Once role in the stage adaptation of the film — shared an exclusive statement with PEOPLE about the man he calls “my hero, my mentor, and my friend.”
“I am devastated by the loss of Glen Hansard,” Kazee, 50, says. “From first hearing Once in a small New York cinema to later performing his songs in the musical version of the film on Broadway, Glen’s artistry and generosity shaped my journey in ways I could never have imagined.”
“He was not only a brilliant musician but also a deeply kind and supportive presence, always seeking connection through music and sharing it with an open heart,” Kazee continues. “I will always remember his warmth, his passion, and the way his love for his family shone just as brightly as his love for music.”
“I will carry his spirit with me always,” the actor concluded.
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Hansard died after a single-vehicle motorcycle crash in Dublin during the early hours of Wednesday, according to a release from Ireland’s national police service, An Garda Síochána.
Shortly before 4:30 a.m. local time, Gardaí and emergency responders were called to the scene after a collision involving a motorcycle on Lower Road in Lucan, west of the city. Hansard was treated at the scene before being pronounced dead a short time later.
Hansard’s representatives at ATC Management later confirmed his death to PEOPLE in a statement, requesting privacy for the musician’s family who they say are “deeply shocked and heartbroken.”
Authorities are appealing for witnesses and asking anyone who may have dash-cam footage from the area to contact investigators.
The Irish singer-songwriter first found international fame starring opposite Markéta Irglová in 2007’s Once, a low-budget musical drama about a Dublin street musician and a Czech immigrant whose chance meeting blossoms into a creative partnership through songwriting.
Hansard and Irglová also wrote and performed the film’s music as The Swell Season, including “Falling Slowly,” which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2008.
The film inspired the Broadway musical Once, which was first developed in a 2011 workshop at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass., before moving to New York Theatre Workshop later that year. Kazee originated the role of Guy opposite Cristin Milioti in both productions before they transferred to Broadway in 2012.
Once went on to win eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and ran through January 2015.
Credit: Slaven Vlasic/Getty
Milioti shared her own tribute to Hansard on Wednesday, simply writing on Instagram, “there are no words.”
In his own Instagram post on Wedensday, Kazee recalled first seeing Once in “a tiny art house cinema in New York” and immediately becoming captivated by Hansard’s voice.
“I went home and learned every song,” he wrote. “I played them nonstop for the next four years until I was inexplicably given the chance to sing them in the first workshop of Once the Musical.”
From there, their relationship quickly became personal. Kazee remembered Hansard attending the Cambridge workshop and enthusiastically supporting the cast before later sharing what he described as one of the defining moments of his career during rehearsals at New York Theatre Workshop.
“When we were rehearsing at New York Theatre Workshop, Glen took me into the basement of a small church,” he wrote. “He sat across from me in a little folding chair, played Say It to Me Now, then handed me ‘the’ guitar and asked me to play it back to him. It felt like a ritual. Not theatrical, but ancient. A shared invocation.”
“We talked about the songs, their meanings, their motives,” Kazee continued. “His generosity was infinite.”
Credit: Luciano Viti/Getty
He also remembered Hansard embracing the company on opening night and later reflected on the final time the two saw each other, when their conversation centered not on music but on fatherhood.
“The last time I saw him we barely talked about music. We talked about being fathers,” wrote Kazee.
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Hansard is survived by his partner, poet Maire Saaritsa, and their 3-year-old son. Kazee, meanwhile, shares two children with his fiancée, Jenna Dewan: son Callum, 6, and daughter Rhiannon, 2. He is also a stepfather to Dewan’s older daughter, Everly, from her previous marriage.
“If you knew Glen you know nothing lit up his eyes quite like music. Or at least that’s what I thought until we started talking about his little boy,” Kazee continued. “His joy was immense. His pride was infinite. His love overflowed.”
“That will always be my lasting memory,” Kazee added. “Two men tied together by fate talking about how the only thing that really mattered in the world was being a dad.”
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