WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) ā Sam Neill, the smoothly elegant and versatile actor whose prolific career moved from as he dodged velociraptors in āJurassic Parkā and played Holly Hunterās cruel husband in āThe Piano,ā has died. He was 78.
In 2023, Neill disclosed he had been diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He died on Monday in Sydney, according to a statement posted to the actorās social media page.
His death was āsudden and unexpected,ā the statement said, adding that he āremained cancer freeā when he died. A cause of death wasnāt specified. āSam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterized his whole life,ā his family wrote.
Tributes were paid by fellow actors and directors, including Steven Spielberg, who helmed the first āJurassic Parkā movie.
āI adored making all the āJurassicā movies with him. Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world,ā Spielberg said in a statement.
Actor Sharon Lawrence wrote on Instagram: āCondolences and appreciation for the immense joy and mastery Sam Neill brought our industry.”
Actor came to world’s notice with āDead Calmā and āMy Brilliant Careerā
Neill was one of a host of actors and directors who achieved international fame after an explosion of Australian films that began in the late 1970s, along with Paul Hogan, Mel Gibson, Geoffrey Rush, Russell Crowe, Jane Campion, Peter Weir and Gillian Armstrong. His range was remarkable, playing opposite Helena Bonham Carter in the Alan Ayckbourn comedy āSweet Revengeā to chopping off Hunterās finger in āThe Pianoā to poking his own eyes out in the sci-fi horror āEvent Horizon.ā
He portrayed both saintly and sinner: In āOmen III: The Final Conflict,ā he played Damien the Antichrist, and he also played Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in āThe Tudors.ā
The actor first came to the attention of international audiences in Armstrongās 1979 film āMy Brilliant Career,ā which also introduced Judy Davis. He later appeared in Phillip Noyceās āDead Calm,ā a classy thriller set at sea and co-starring the then-relatively unknown Nicole Kidman.
Neill twice co-starred with Meryl Streep, in Australian director Fred Schepisiās āPlentyā and ā again for Schepisi ā in āA Cry in the Dark,ā a film about the sensationalized aftermath of a dingo killing a baby in the Australian Outback.
He earned an Emmy nomination for his performance in the title role of the 1998 miniseries āMerlinā and another as narrator of 2017ās āWild New Zealand.ā Neill also earned three Golden Globe nods ā for āMerlin,ā āOne Against the Windā and āReilly: Ace of Spies.ā
Richard E. Grant, a longtime friend who co-starred with Neill in 2019ās āPalm Beach,ā described him in a post on Instagram as āan officer and a gentleman in the truest sense.ā Grant said Neill had āguided and helped me through a very difficult time in my life.ā
āJurassic Parkā was his best-known film
Perhaps Neill achieved his highest level of fame in playing paleontologist Alan Grant, who is summoned to an island off Costa Rica where a theme park has been built to house herds of cloned dinosaurs.
His character was thoughtful and reasonable, a scientist who warned the mastermind of the theme park before the chaos: āDinosaurs and man, two species separated by 65 million years of evolution have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea what to expect?ā
Grant survived the harrowing events when the creatures get loose, but didnāt return for āThe Lost World: Jurassic Park IIā in 1997. He came back for the third episode in 2001 and āJurassic World: Dominionā in 2022.
āItās probably a little late to learn these things,ā he told the New York Daily News in 2001, ābut I finally feel Iāve worked out how to be an action hero. Iām happier with Grant this time. Heās gnarly and grizzled, but he looks like he knows what heās doing.ā
Early life in Northern Ireland and New Zealand
Born in 1947 in Northern Ireland, Neill emigrated to New Zealand at the age of 7. He was born Nigel Neill, but told interviewers he started to go by Sam because there were too many Nigels at his school.
His family settled in Dunedin on the South Island and he was sent to boarding school in Christchurch. After college, he took the lead in āSleeping Dogsā in 1977, the first feature made in New Zealand in more than a decade.
Neillās other film roles included playing a Soviet submarine officer who memorably dreams of a home in Montana in āThe Hunt for Red Octoberā and an investigator in director John Carpenterās āIn the Mouth of Madness.ā
On the small screen, Neill played the malign Chester Campbell in TVās āPeaky Blindersā and Thomas Jefferson in the four-hour CBS miniseries, āSally Hemings: an American Tragedy.ā On Apple TV+, he was on āInvasion,ā playing Oklahoma Sheriff John Bell Tyson, a man late in his career searching for his purpose. In 2024, he starred opposite Annette Bening in the Peacock series
Beloved in New Zealand as an unassuming celebrity
The actor became known in New Zealand as a modest and unassuming person who didn’t embrace celebrity. On social media, he often posted images of his farm animals, many of them affectionately named after celebrities and friends, like Laura Dern the chicken, Kylie Minogue the duck and Helena Bonham Carter the cow.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon mourned Neill as āone of the greatsā in a statement posted to social media.
āHe started out when there was barely a film industry to speak of,ā Luxon wrote. āFor more than fifty years he took New Zealand stories to the world and his talents helped make our film industry into what it is today.ā
Neill was also a vintner and under his Two Paddocks brand, he produced pinot noir and riesling wines from his winery in the Central Otago region of New Zealandās South Island.
His memoir āDid I Ever Tell You This?ā came out in March 2023 and he was awarded a knighthood in recognition of his āoutstanding contribution to film,ā a title approved by the late Queen Elizabeth II.
āI canāt pretend that the last year hasnāt had its dark moments,ā Neill told The Guardian in 2023, referring to his cancer diagnosis and treatment. āBut those dark moments throw the light into sharp relief, you know, and have made me grateful for every day and immensely grateful for all my friends.ā
He is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.
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Kennedy reported from New York.
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