Gaspard Ulliel appears during a photo call for the film “Juste La Fin Du Monde” (It’s Only The End Of The World) at Cannes
(Picture: (AP Photo/Joel Ryan, File))French actor Gaspard Ulliel has died after a skiing accident in the Alps.
The 37-year-old, known for appearing in Chanel perfume ads, portrayed the young Hannibal Lecter in 2007’s Hannibal Rising and fashion mogul Yves Saint Laurent in the 2014 biopic Saint Laurent.
He is also in the upcoming Marvel series Moon Knight, and was the advertising face of the Chanel men’s fragrance Bleu de Chanel.
Ulliel was rushed to hospital on Tuesday after the accident in the Savoie region’s Rosiere ski area, the Savoie prosecutor’s office said.
He collided with another skier on a slope marked as intermediate after turning left to join his friends on an adjoining slope, Anne Gaches, the Savoie prosecutor in Albertville, said in a statement issued Wednesday.
Preliminary findings from an investigation indicated that "both skiers fell to the ground after the collision," the prosecutor said. Ulliel was "motionless and unconscious when rescuers arrived," while the other skier was unharmed, Gaches said.
Ulliel was transported by helicopter to Grenoble University Hospital, where doctors tried to revive him, she said. The actor was pronounced dead on Wednesday, shortly after 4 pm local time, she said.
The office of the actor's agent confirmed Ulliel had died on Wednesday.
His director for It’s Only The End Of The World Xavier Dolan gave an emotional tribute to the actor on Instagram.
He wrote: “This is unimaginable, senseless and so painful to even think of writing these words. Your discreet laugh, your attentive eye. Your scar. Your talent. Your listening. Your whispers, your kindness.
“All the features of your person were in fact born of a sparkling sweetness.
“It is your whole being that has transformed my life, a being that I loved deeply, and that I will always love. I can’t say anything else, I’m empty, struck by your departure.”
Ulliel started in television while still in middle school and went on to win two of France's top cinema awards, the Cesar.
Tributes poured in from shocked fans and the corridors of power. French Prime Minister Jean Castex tweeted an homage that said, "Gaspard Ulliel grew up with cinema and cinema grew up with him. They loved each other madly."
French Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin said she was deeply saddened by Ulliel's death, describing the actor as "a child prodigy of cinema, who embodied perfectly the French style all over the world."
The House of Chanel said in a statement it has lost its "ambassador of 12 years and a friend."
"We have been fortunate to have had by our side all these years a person endowed with great culture, an immense talent, and of unparalleled kindness. He will be sorely missed," Chanel said.
The mountain police service serving the site of the accident said it has been leading five or six rescues per day in recent days as the snow has hardened.
In the neighbouring Haute-Savoie region, a five-year-old British girl was killed on Saturday when a skier crashed into her.The man was handed preliminary manslaughter charges, according to the Haute-Savoie prosecutor, who cited excessive speed as the likely reason for the accident.
