Sam Neill, the genre-spanning New Zealand actor best known for his starring role in the “Jurassic Park” movies, has died, his family said Monday.
He was 78.
“Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterized his whole life,” the family said in a statement on Instagram.
“The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free,” the family said in the statement, which did not specify a cause of death.
Neill, who died in Sydney, had announced in April that he was cancer-free after several years of treatment for blood cancer.
He found international acclaim for his portrayal of paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant in the 1993 Steven Spielberg film “Jurassic Park,” a role he reprised in subsequent movies.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon praised Neill’s impact on films in New Zealand and abroad, calling him “one of the greats.”
“For 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 — one of our greatest cultural exports,” he wrote on X.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Neill had “earned a special place in Australian hearts.”
“Wry and dry, thoughtful and laconic, Sam fought illness with the same dignity, humor and conviction that gave strength to his every performance,” he said on X.
Prominent Hollywood actors also paid tributes to Neill.
Fellow Kiwi actor Karl Urban, known for his roles as the foul-mouthed Billy Butcher in “The Boys” and the leader of the Riders of Rohan in “The Lord of the Rings,” called Neill “truly brilliant.”
Commenting under the actor’s family statement on Instagram, Urban said Neill was “an inspiration for many who followed in his trailblazing footsteps.”
Toni Collette, who starred with Neill in “Dirty Deeds” in 2002 and “A Long Way Down” in 2014, posted a group photo and her condolences on Instagram.
“I love you, dear Sam. You hero. You legend,” she wrote.
Although known as a prominent New Zealand actor, Neill held both British and New Zealand citizenship. He was born in Omagh, Northern Ireland, on Sept. 14, 1947. In the early 1950s, Neill and his family relocated to New Zealand.
Born Nigel John Dermot Neill, he later said he chose to go by Sam because there were too many Nigels at school.
By the 1970s, Neill had established himself as an actor in local New Zealand films. His first film in the country to reach prominence was the action thriller “Sleeping Dogs” in 1977, which also screened overseas.
Neill’s career climbed an upward trajectory from the early 1980s to the late 1990s. His portrayal of real-life spy Sidney Reilly in the 1983 TV miniseries “Reilly, Ace of Spades” was met with acclaim and largely marked his breakthrough on the international stage.
He played a Soviet submarine officer in the 1990 film “The Hunt for Red October” and the husband of Holly Hunter’s Ada in the Oscar-winning historical romance “The Piano” in 1993. Other notable roles include a haunted astrophysicist in the 1997 sci-fi horror film “Event Horizon” and a middle-aged Merlin, the wizard from the tales of King Arthur, in the 1998 NBC miniseries of the same name.
The latter role earned him one of two Emmy nominations and three Golden Globe nominations.
In the 2010s, Neill maintained his presence in TV and film with roles in the British crime drama series “Peaky Blinders” and in New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi’s 2016 comedy adventure “Hunt for the Wilderpeople.” Neill had more than 150 screen credits.
In 1991, Neill was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to acting. In 2007, he was made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, the New Zealand royal honors system, and in 2022 he accepted a knighthood.
Following his reprisal of the role of Dr. Alan Grant in the 2022 film “Jurassic World: Dominion,” Neill revealed he had been diagnosed with a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He described his cancer battle in his 2023 memoir, “Did I Ever Tell You This?”
In an interview with The Guardian in 2023, Neill said he would like to live “another decade or two” but that he was “not afraid to die.”
“I can’t pretend that the last year hasn’t had its dark moments,” he said of his cancer diagnosis and treatment. “But 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. Just pleased to be alive.”
He is survived by four children and eight grandchildren, according to The Associated Press.
